Who Is At Risk for Sudden Cardiac Arrest?
Each year, between 250,000 and 450,000 Americans
have sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). SCA occurs most often in people in their
mid-thirties to mid-forties. It appears to affect men twice as often as
women.
SCA rarely occurs in children unless they have
inherited problems that make them likely to have SCA. Only a very small number
of children have SCA each year.
Major Risk Factors
The major risk factor for SCA is undiagnosed
coronary
artery disease (CAD). Most people who have SCA are later found to have some
degree of CAD. Most of these people don't know that they have CAD until SCA
occurs.
Their CAD is "silent"that is, it has no signs
or symptoms. Because of this, doctors and nurses have not detected it. Most
cases of SCA happen in people who have silent CAD and who have no known heart
disease prior to SCA.
Many people who have SCA also have a silent, or
undiagnosed,
heart
attack before SCA happens. These people have no obvious signs of 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.
For more information about CAD risk factors, see
"Who
Is At Risk for Coronary Artery Disease?"
Other Risk Factors
Other risk factors for SCA include:
- A personal or family history of SCA or of
inherited disorders that make you prone to
arrhythmias
- A history of having arrhythmias
- Heart attack
- Heart
failure
- Drug abuse or excessive alcohol intake
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