sudden cardiac arrest affect

Who does sudden cardiac

arrest affect?

Sudden cardiac arrest has many riskfactors, especially coronary heart disease. However, you're more likely to nave a higher risk as you age and ifyou're African American and AMAB,Certain genetic causes of heart disease such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathyals increase the risk of sudden cardiacdeath.

What are the symptoms?

In more than half of the cases, sudden cardiac arrest happens without prio symptoms.Sudden cardiac arrest symptoms may include:

• Fainting (losing consciousness)
• Racing heartbeat.
• Chest pain
• Dizziness.
• Lightheadedness.
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling sick to your stomach and
• throwing up

This means that a potentially dangerous heart rhythm problem has

What causes a sudden

cardiac arrest?

Abnormal heart rhythms called arrhythmias cause most suddencardiac arrests. The most common life-threatening arrhythmia is ventricular fibrillation. This is an erraticdisorganized firing of impulses from your heart's ventricles (lower chambers). When this happens, yourheart is unable to pump blood. Without treatment, you can die within minutes,Other sudden cardiac arrest causes include:

• Coronary heart disease
• Congenital (since birth) heart

How is sudden cardiac arrest

different from a heart

attack?

Sudden cardiac arrest happens when

your:

Heart's electrical system malfunctions and suddenly

becomes irregular. Heart beats dangerously fast.Ventricles may flutter or quiver(ventricular fibrillation)

As a result of these electrical changes to your heart, it can't pump blood, and

blood doesn't reach the rest of your

body. As a result, this condition is fatal

unless emergency treatment starts