Anyone could have a heart attack. In fact, in the United States alone, a heart attack occurs every 40 seconds, the equivalent of approximately 805,000 attacks each year. However, have you ever wondered if animals can suffer from this life-threatening condition?
According to the scientific community, most animals do not suffer from heart attacks, not even one of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees. However, although attacks are rare in the animal kingdom, they do experience other heart problems .
In fact, according to Philip Gordts, a heart disease researcher at the University of California, animals don’t usually die naturally from a heart attack in which the coronary arteries become blocked (as they do in humans).
What is a heart attack?
Heart attacks occur when a blood vessel that delivers oxygenated blood to the heart becomes blocked and a piece of heart tissue dies from lack of oxygen. When a part of the heart dies, it cannot contract and it cannot propagate the electrical wave that moves through the rest of the heart telling it to contract. This can cause the heart to stop, leading to death unless intervention is performed.
In addition, although the hearts of mammals are very similar and theoretically they can suffer a heart attack, most of the time this is not the case. For example, according to the Oakland Veterinary Referral Service, heart attacks occur very infrequently in dogs. In fact, not even captive chimpanzees (which are closely related to humans) have heart attacks, despite sharing risk factors such as physical inactivity and high cholesterol levels.
Therefore, according to the researchers, it would be more appropriate to ask why people can have heart attacks. According to various investigations, poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle are risk factors for atherosclerosis (that is, for the accumulation of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on the walls of the arteries).
However, 15% of heart attacks happen for the first time in people without heart risk factors. According to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , people can be prone to heart attacks due to a mutation that is unique to humans.
Heart attacks in vertebrates
Despite this study, the truth is that there is not much research that addresses this question. Also, based on the structure of the heart, researchers can predict which vertebrates are most likely to have heart attacks.
Mammalian and avian hearts have only one source of oxygen, the coronary arteries. These branch into arterioles and capillaries, where heart muscle cells pick up oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. Therefore, in the heart of mammals the only way that blood and oxygen can be obtained in all parts of the heart is through the vessels. Thus, if a coronary artery becomes blocked in a bird or mammal, the heart loses its oxygen supply and the creature is likely to have a heart attack.
