How Sudden Is Sudden Cardiac Death?

How sudden is sudden cardiac death?

BACKGROUND Out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a frequent cause of death. Survival rates remain low despite increasing efforts in medical care. Better understanding of the circumstances of SCD could be helpful in developing preventive measures and facilitating proper reactions to such a pending event. METHODS AND RESULTS Information on cases of out-of-hospital SCD was collected in t...

Sudden Cardiac Death Epidemiology and Genetics of Sudden Cardiac Death

From the Section of Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (R.D.); Division of Preventive Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine, Center for Arrhythmia Prevention, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA (C.M.A.). Correspondence to Christine M. Albert, MD, MPH, Division of Preventive Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine, Center for Ar...

Sudden Cardiac Death Sudden Cardiac Death in the Athlete

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) in a young athlete commonly brings to the forefront the many gaps in knowledge regarding how to predict and prevent these rare tragic events.1–3 Although the number of athletic sudden deaths is relatively small, with 100 to 150 competitive deaths during sports in the United States annually, they represent an important and emotionally charged public health issue, perha...

sudden cardiac death in athletes: is universal ecg screening plausible?

Sudden unexpected cardiac death

Why are we not doing more to prevent sudden unexpected cardiac death? Why is prevention of the principal cause of death occurring during acute myocardial ischaemia and impending myocardial infarction ignored? The majority are caused by ventricular fibrillation. This is most common within the first hour after the onset of an acute coronary syndrome and occurs with decreasing frequency thereafter...