What Are the Risks of Stress Testing?

There's little risk of serious harm from any type of stress testing. The chance of these tests causing a heart attack or death is about 1 in 5,000. More common, but less serious side effects linked to stress testing include:

• Arrhythmia (an abnormal heartbeat). Often, an arrhythmia will go away quickly once you're at rest. But if it persists, you may need monitoring or treatment in a hospital.
• Low blood pressure, which can cause you to feel dizzy or faint. This problem may go away once your heart stops working hard; it usually doesn't require treatment.
• Jitteriness or discomfort while getting medicine to make your heart work harder (you may be given medicine if you can't exercise). These side effects usually go away shortly after you stop getting the medicine. In some cases, the symptoms may last a few hours.

Also, some of the medicines used for pharmacological stress tests can cause wheezing, shortness of breath, and other asthma-like symptoms. In some cases, these symptoms may be severe and require treatment.