20 May 25
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Signs of ’’Sudden’’ Cardiac Death May Come Weeks Before
Signs of approaching "sudden" cardiac arrest, an electrical malfunction that stops the heart, usually appear at least a month ahead of time, according to a study of middle-age men in Portland, Oregon.
"We're looking at how to identify the Tim Russerts and Jim Gandolfinis - middle aged men in their 50s who drop dead and we don't have enough information why," said Sumeet Chugh, senior author of the study and associate director for genomic cardiology at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. Some 360,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur each year in the United States, largely involving middle-aged men, with only 9.5 percent surviving, according to the American Heart Association. Patients can survive if they are given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) immediately and their hearts are jolted back into normal rhythm with a defibrillator. Earlier clinical trials have focused only on symptoms or warnings signs within an hour of such attacks.
But Chugh's study set out to determine whether signs and symptoms occurred as much as a month before sudden cardiac arrests. Researchers went back and examined medical records of men 35 to 65 years old after they had out-of-hospital attacks. In addition, paramedics reaching the scene of fatal attacks asked family members what signs and symptoms the patient may have had in preceding weeks. more