Chest pain can be serious, and any new chest pain that feels like pressure, squeezing, or heaviness lasting more than a few minutes is an emergency until proven otherwise.
Most chest pain turns out not to be a heart attack. Common causes include heartburn, chest wall or muscle strain, costochondritis, panic attacks, asthma, and lung infections. What changes the answer is how the pain behaves: tightness that lasts more than a few minutes, spreads to the arm, jaw, neck, or back, or comes with shortness of breath, cold sweat, or nausea points toward the heart and means calling 911. Pain that is sharp and brief, reproducible when you press on one spot, or clearly tied to a meal or a cough is more often muscular or digestive, though repeated episodes still deserve a visit. Knowing your blood pressure, cholesterol numbers, and family history helps you and your clinician judge your risk before any pain starts.
How to judge chest pain
Common questions
Is chest pain serious?
Chest pain has many causes, from heart attack and blood clots in the lungs to acid reflux, muscle strain, anxiety, and pneumonia. The dangerous causes are hard to tell apart at home, so treat new chest pain as urgent until a clinician rules them out. Call 911 if the pain feels like pressure, squeezing, or heaviness lasting more than a few minutes, or comes with shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, lightheadedness, or pain spreading to the arm, jaw, neck, or back. Women, older adults, and people with diabetes may feel only mild discomfort. Pain that returns with exertion and eases with rest also needs prompt evaluation.