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