New model to predict sudden cardiac death

Washington : Researchers have developed a sudden cardiac death (SCD) predictive model that can help identify and prevent the disease in individuals at high risk.

Alvaro Alonso, associate professor at Emory University in the US and colleagues developed the first predictive tool to assess the future risk of SCD among the general population.

The team analysed data from 18,000 adults without a prior history of cardiovascular disease.

Findings suggest that information on age, sex and race along with traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol as well as specific SCD related predictors and biomarkers can be leveraged to predict the risk of SCD, researchers said.

"Not unexpectedly, we found that traditional risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (smoking, diabetes, hypertension) predicted sudden cardiac death," said Alonso.

"However, we also found other predictors specific to sudden cardiac death, such as measures derived from the electrocardiogram and some blood biomarkers. African Americans had higher risk of sudden cardiac death than white individuals," he said.

The research was published in the journal Circulation.