Published Online
on September 4, 2006

A more recent version of this article appeared on September 12, 2006

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Submitted on January 24, 2006
Revised on June 13, 2006
Accepted on June 20, 2006

How Sudden Is Sudden Cardiac Death?

Dirk Müller MD, PhD^*, Rahul Agrawal MD, PhD, and Hans-Richard Arntz MD, PhD

From Medizinische Klinik II, Kardiologie und Pulmologie, Charité, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dirkmll{at}dr-ducati.de.

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 the Berlin, Germany, emergency medical system via a questionnaire. Bystander interviews were performed by the emergency physician on scene immediately after declaration of death or return of circulation. Of 5831 rescue missions, 406 involved patients with presumed cardiac arrest. Sixty-six percent had a known cardiac disease. In 72%, the arrest occurred at home, and in 67%, it occurred in the presence of an eyewitness. Information on symptoms immediately preceding the arrest was available in 80% (n=323) of all 406 patients and in 274 of those with witnessed arrest. Symptoms were identical in the 2 groups. Typical angina was present for a median of 120 minutes in 25% of the 274 patients with witnessed arrest and in 33% with a symptom duration of less than 1 hour.

Conclusions--SCD occurs most often at home in the presence of relatives and after a longer period of typical warning symptoms. Although the much-hailed use of public access defibrillation is supported by several studies, the present results raise the question of whether educational measures and targeted educational programs tailored for patients at risk and their relatives should have a higher priority.

Key words: death, sudden • resuscitation • myocardial infarction • defibrillation

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