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How Early Would Sign Of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Appear? Sudden cardiac arrest is a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. While it is not the same as a heart attack when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is blocked, it might happen after or during recovery from a heart attack. Being a medical emergency, sudden cardiac arrest can cause a person to die within minutes if not treated immediately. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), if given in time, can help bring a patient’s heart back to normal rhythm with the help of a defibrillator. This could greatly increase the chance of survival until arrival of emergency medical team. According to American Heart Association (AHA), out of some 360,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States each year, largely involving middle-aged men, only 9.5 percent survived. In the United Kingdom, only between 2 and 12 percent of people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside hospital survive. However, this does not mean sudden cardiac arrest cannot be predicted. In fact, researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles reported that signs of approaching sudden cardiac arrest usually appear at least a month earlier. This is definitely good news as spotting the warning signs means lives could be saved. The paper was presented at the AHA’s Scientific Sessions 2013 meeting between November 16 and 20, 2013 in Dallas, Texas.
The study was part of the 11-year Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study, which has recruited a million participants in the Portland metropolitan area. Information was gathered about the symptoms and health history of men aged between 35 and 65, who had suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between 2002 and 2012. Moreover, paramedics reaching the scene of fatal attacks also asked family members the signs and symptoms the patient might have had in preceding weeks. Results of the study showed that 53 percent of the 567 men who had sudden arrest had symptoms up to a month before their cardiac arrest. Of those with symptoms, 56 had chest pain, 13 percent had shortness of breath and 4 percent had dizziness, fainting or palpitations. About 80 percent of symptoms occurred between one hour before the cardiac arrest and up to 4 weeks. In addition, most of these men who had cardiac arrest had coronary artery disease but only half of them had been tested for it before their cardiac arrest. Previously, it is thought that people who have cardiac arrest do not have any symptom and hence there is nothing can be done about it. It is not unusual for people to ignore more subtle symptoms such as lightheadedness, dizziness, palpitations or mild chest discomfort as not being serious. But the new findings serve as an alert that people who have similar types of symptoms should seek medical care without any delay. Although most of the people who have these symptoms might not have cardiac arrest, paying attention to these mild symptoms and get medical attention early could save their lives. Similar studies among women, funded by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AHA and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, are being conducted by the researchers. Ventricular fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia, can cause most sudden cardiac arrests. Other possible risk factors for sudden cardiac arrest include family history of sudden cardiac arrest or inherited disorders that make one prone to arrhythmias, coronary heart disease, physical stress, heart failure, drug or alcohol abuse. Sudden cardiac arrest can, however, also occur in people who appear healthy and have no prior history of heart disease or other risk factors. Risk of sudden cardiac arrest increases with age, too. Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to have sudden cardiac arrest than women. But sudden cardiac arrest seldom occurs in children unless they have inherited problems that make them likely to have it. Only a very small number of children have sudden cardiac arrest each year.
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