Who Is At Risk for Sudden Cardiac Arrest?
Populations Affected
Each year, between 250,000 and 450,000 Americans
have sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Ninety-five percent of these people die
within minutes.
SCA occurs most often in adults in their
mid-thirties to mid-forties. It affects men twice as often as women. SCA rarely
occurs in children unless they have inherited problems that make them likely to
have SCA. Only 1 to 2 out of every 100,000 children experiences SCA each year.
Major Risk Factors
The major risk factor for SCA is having
coronary
artery disease (CAD). Most people who have SCA have some degree of CAD. But
most of these people don't know they have CAD until SCA occurs. Their CAD is
"silent" (that is, it has no symptoms), and doctors and nurses have not
previously found it. Because of this, most cases of SCA happen in people with
silent CAD who have no known heart disease at the time of the event.
Many people with SCA had a silent
heart
attack before the SCA happened. These people have no obvious signs of
having a heart attack, and they don't even realize that they've had one. The
chances for having SCA are higher during the first 6 months after a heart
attack.
The risk factors for developing CAD include:
- Smoking
- A family history of early cardiovascular disease
(that is, heart disease diagnosed before age 55 in your father or a brother, or
heart disease diagnosed before age 65 in your mother or a sister)
- High
blood cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Increasing age (risk increases for men after age
45 and for women after age 55)
- High blood pressure
- Overweight and obesity
- Lack of physical activity
Other Risk Factors
Other risk factors for SCA include:
- A personal or family history of SCA
- Abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias)
- Birth defects of the heart or blood vessels, or
an enlarged heart
- Heart
failure
- Recreational drug abuse
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