In the study, researchers followed 7,079 middle-aged men employed by the City of Paris for an average of 23 years. During this period, 2,083 men died -- 118 due to sudden death and 192 due to fatal heart attacks, which were sudden. According to the researchers, a history of sudden death characterized 22 (18.6 percent) of the men who died of sudden death. Of the men who suffered a fatal heart attack -- not a sudden death -- 19 (9.9 percent) had a history of parental sudden death. Of the 6,769 individuals who did not die from either a heart attack or sudden death, only 718 (10.6 percent) had a history of parental sudden death.
Researchers found that a parental history of sudden death was an independent risk factor for predicting sudden death.
Too often, sudden death is the first -- and the last -- sign of heart disease. Of the approximately 250,000 men and women who suffer a sudden cardiac death each year in the United States, only about half were aware of their heart disease. Therefore, being able to identify people at high risk for sudden death is essential to timely intervention with effective preventive measures, says Jouven.
"Until this study, there was no known risk factor for identifying people at increased risk of sudden death other than the known risk factors for coronary heart disease, such as advancing age, obesity, diabetes, tobacco use, and elevations of blood pressure, resting heart rate, and blood cholesterol," Jouven says.
The other co-authors of this study include Michel Desnos, M.D.; Claude Guerot, M.D.; and Pierre Ducimetière, Ph.D.
'"/>
Contact: Carole Bullock
caroleb@heart.org
214-706-1279
American Heart Association
20-Apr-1999