BUT HOW DO WE KNOW HOW THEY IDENTIFY? Individuals feel sex-specific symptoms before impending cardiac arrest, study finds. “Smidt Heart Institute investigators also learned that this warning symptom was different for women than it was for men. For women, the most prominent symptom of an impending sudden cardiac arrest was shortness of breath, whereas men experienced chest pain. Smaller subgroups of both genders experienced palpitations, seizure-like activity and flu-like symptoms.”