Why the study?
Does the recent loss of or separation from a family member or friend trigger sudden cardiac arrest in apparently healthy individuals?
Does the recent loss of or separation from a family member or friend trigger sudden cardiac arrest in apparently healthy individuals?
Major life events such as the loss of or separation from a loved one may trigger sudden cardiac arrest, though habitual vigorous physical activity may attenuate this risk.
May link recent events to SCA risk; hypothesis-generating and should not yet alter practice or prompt prospective trials.
BACKGROUND: We investigated the risk of sudden cardiac arrest in association with the recent loss of, or separation from, a family member or friend. METHODS: Our case-crossover study included 490 apparently healthy married residents of King County, Washington, who suffered sudden cardiac arrest between 1988 and 2005. We compared exposure to spouse-reported family/friend events occurring ≤ 1 month before sudden cardiac arrest with events occurring in the previous 5 months. We evaluated potential effect modification by habitual vigorous physical activity. RESULTS: Recent family/friend events were associated with a higher risk of sudden cardiac arrest (odds ratio [OR] = 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1-2.4). ORs for cases with and without habitual vigorous physical activity were 1.1 (0.6-2.2) and 2.0 (1.2-3.1), respectively (interaction P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest family/friend events may trigger sudden cardiac arrest and raise the hypothesis that habitual vigorous physical activity may lower susceptibility to these potential triggers.
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Wicks et al. (2012) studied this question.
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