|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SAN ANTONIO, Mar 02, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Sudden cardiac death -- the heart attack that kills without warning -- is suddenly stalking the young, especially young women and young African-Americans.
Dr. George Mensah, chief of cardiovascular health at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., said that in 1996 sudden cardiac death killed 3,000 young adults who were believed to be healthy. Mensah and his colleague Dr. Zhi-Jie Zheng presented the new data on sudden cardiac death at the American Heart Association's 41st Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
Mensah and Zheng studied death certificates from the years 1989 through 1996 to cull the information about sudden cardiac death. At one time about 300,000 Americans, usually elderly persons, died from sudden cardiac death each year. Mensah noted that the overall number of deaths among all ages dropped to just over 250,000 during the 1990s.
During that same time, however, the number of sudden cardiac deaths among those 15 to 34 climbed by about 10 percent But more significant than the absolute number of deaths was the alarming increase in the mortality rate, the number of deaths per 100,000 population, said Mensah. Among young men the mortality rate from sudden cardiac death increased by 10 percent and the "uglier news is that among young women the mortality rate increase was 32 percent, " said Mensah.
Worse, he said, was the finding that the mortality rate among African-Americans was three times the rate among whites. Neither Mensah nor Zheng could point to a single cause for the increase deaths but they speculated that a generation of overweight, out-of-shape adolescents might be what is behind the spike in numbers. Another factor, they said, is increased smoking among teens and young women. According to the CDC the number of high school students who said they regularly smoked cigarettes climbed from 12 percent of all high school students to 17 percent during the 1990s.
Zheng said that another factor could be "use of cocaine or other drugs" since such use has been linked to sudden cardiac death. Although the study looked at sudden cardiac death rates beginning at age 15, Mensah said in an interview with United Press International that most of the deaths occur among those aged 25 and older. "In each year 79 percent of the deaths occurred in that cohort," he said.
Sudden cardiac death is a type of catchall diagnosis that includes three different types of attacks. Among the youngest victims sudden cardiac death is most likely caused by cardiomyopathy-a deterioration of the heart muscle itself-or irregular heartbeats called arrhythmias.
As people age the most common cause are blockages in the arteries known medically as ischemic heart attacks. This is caused by so-called hardening of the arteries. What makes this type of heart attack so deadly is that it usually occurs in people who haven't had warning symptoms like chronic chest pain or shortness of breath and that the attack itself is massive. It shuts down the heart so completely that only about 5 percent of its victims can be resuscitated. Dr. Ronald M. Krauss, chair of the AHA council on nutrition, physical activity, and metabolism, said in an interview that it is very difficult to "determine the true causes for sudden cardiac death because of its very nature: sudden." He said, however, that the new CDC findings suggest that renewed efforts to reduce smoking and obesity while increasing exercise along with a healthy, low-fat diet are needed in all age groups.
Mensah said that, armed with only the death certificate data, it is difficult to make concrete suggestions about ways to change "this disturbing trend." Following current AHA prevention guidelines is a good first step, he said, but what is really needed is a formal registry for sudden cardiac death. Such a registry, similar to the one used for cancer, would include not only mortality data but also medical information about specific risk factors. With registry data, he said, prevention experts would have a complete profile of the sudden cardiac death victim and could fashion specific prevention programs.
By PEGGY PECK, UPI Science Writer
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
SUBJECT CODE: 07000000
| Health Topics | Drug Information | Dictionaries | Directories | Other Resources |
|
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894
Copyright and Privacy Policy, We welcome your comments. Last updated: 02 March 2001 |