Young Swedish patients with sudden cardiac death have a lifestyle very similar to a control population

OBJECTIVES: To study the association between lifestyle and sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the young with special respect to athletic activities. DESIGN: We compared lifestyle factors, collected from forensic and medical reports and from interviews with family members, in the Swedish cohort of individuals 15-35 years of age who had suffered an SCD during 1992-1999, with those of the control population of the same age group, obtained from national health registries. RESULTS: Physical activity and body mass index (BMI) in men were the same as in the controls, whilst women had a higher BMI and a lower level of physical activity in the SCD group. Twenty-three per cent (32/138) were competing athletes in the SCD group and 29% in the control group (622/2131). Death during physical activity was more common in athletes (20/32) than in non-athletes (18/106) (p<0.001). In coronary artery disease deaths, 11/15 (73%) were smokers and BMI was significantly higher than in the controls in both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: Young Swedish persons suffering SCD were very similar to the normal population with regard to lifestyle factors.