All people with suspected angina should be urgently referred to a chest pain evaluation service, for confirmation of the diagnosis and assessment of the severity of coronary heart disease. Epidemiology
As of 2010, angina due to ischemic heart disease affects approximately 112 million people (1.6% of the population) being slightly more common in men than women (1.7% to 1.5%).In the United States, 10.2 million are estimated to experience angina with approximately 500,000 new cases occurring each year. Angina is more often the presenting symptom of coronary artery disease in women than in men. The prevalence of angina rises with increasing age, with a mean age of onset of 62.3 years. After five years post-onset, 4.8% of individuals with angina subsequently died from coronary heart disease. Men with angina were found to have an increased risk of subsequent acute myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease related death than women. Similar figures apply in the remainder of the Western world. All forms of coronary heart disease are much less-common in the Third World, as its risk factors are much more common in Western and Westernized countries; it could, therefore, be termed a disease of affluence. History
The condition was named "hritshoola" in ancient India and was described by Sushruta (6th century BC).The first clinical description of angina pectoris was by a British physician Dr. William Heberden in 1768.
Studies, including the Womens Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE), suggest that microvascular angina is part of the pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease, perhaps explaining the higher rates of angina in women than in men, as well as their predilection towards ischemia and acute coronary syndromes in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease. Signs and symptoms
Angina pectoris can be quite painful, but many patients with angina complain of chest discomfort rather than actual pain: the discomfort is usually described as a pressure, heaviness, tightness, squeezing, burning, or choking sensation. Apart from chest discomfort, anginal pains may also be experienced in the epigastrium (upper central abdomen), back, neck area, jaw, or shoulders. This is explained by the concept of referred pain and is because the spinal level that receives visceral sensation from the heart simultaneously receives cutaneous sensation from parts of the skin specified by that spinal nerves dermatome, without an ability to discriminate the two. Typical locations for referred pain are arms (often inner left arm), shoulders, and neck into the jaw. Angina is typically precipitated by exertion or emotional stress. It is exacerbated by having a full stomach and by cold temperatures. Pain may be accompanied by breathlessness, sweating, and nausea in some cases. In this case, the pulse rate and the blood pressure increases. Chest pain lasting only a few seconds is normally not angina (such as precordial catch syndrome).