Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, died Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest at a home in Calabasas, California.
Presley, who on Tuesday had attended the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, was found unconscious and not breathing Thursday morning. Presley’s ex-husband began CPR on her in the home as paramedics were called.
Los Angeles County paramedics were dispatched to the home at 10:37 a.m. after receiving the report of a woman in full cardiac arrest, Craig Little, a spokesperson for the county’s fire department told The Associated Press.
Full cardiac arrest would mean that Presley was unconscious, had no pulse and was not breathing.
Paramedics arrived about six minutes later, Little said. A subsequent statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said paramedics performed CPR and “determined the patient had signs of life” before taking her to a hospital in nearby West Hills immediately.
Presley later died at the hospital after being put into a drug-induced coma and having a pacemaker implanted.
What happened to cause Presley’s death is not yet known, but when she died, she became one of the more than 697,000 people in the United States who die of heart-related issues each year.
Was Presley sick at the Golden Globes?
Presley appeared unsteady and pale at the Golden Globes ceremony, at one point asking to hold onto someone to stand during an interview on the red carpet.
TMZ reported Thursday that Presley had been dealing with stomach pains on the day of the award show.
Stomach pains are one symptom that women in particular suffer when having a heart attack or other heart issues.
What is a heart attack; what is cardiac arrest?
Heart attacks and cardiac arrests are not the same health events.
As explained by Healthline.com, “a heart attack is caused by problems with the body’s circulation system that block blood flow to the heart.”
Heart attacks are most commonly caused by coronary artery disease.
A cardiac arrest is “a breakdown of the heart’s electrical system and is typically caused by arrhythmias that interfere with the rhythm and electrical system of the heart.”
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, risk factors for cardiac arrests include prior cardiac arrest, coronary heart disease, heart valve disease, congenital heart defects and arrhythmias caused by faulty genes.
Half of cardiac arrests happen to people who did not know they had a heart problem.
What are the symptoms?
For heart attacks, the symptoms include:
- Sudden chest pain. However, heart attacks can also start slowly with mild pain that comes and goes over several hours.
- Pain in the jaw
- Pain in the left arm
- Women can experience different and additional symptoms. Shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, and back or jaw pain are common symptoms for women having a heart attack.
Those who are in cardiac arrest collapse, lose consciousness and stop breathing.