Myocardial infarction, where a fatal outcome is not always so sudden
Ask most people about the supposed classic Heart Attack scenario and they will describe it as follows. The middle aged victim clutches their chest, gasps and the falls over and dies immediately. Apparently death by Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the most common cause of death in the USA today accounting for 20 percent of all fatalities. These attacks are apparently so lethal that only one in twenty victims survives
Until recently the most widely held view about these sort of incidents is that they would occur without warning and totally out of the blue so to speak. However a more detailed study by German Researchers would indicate that they are actually more like real lightening in that they are usually preceded by clouds, rain, wind and storms.
The problem with analysing the whole incidence of Sudden Cardiac Arrest is that since they are generally fatal, it is impossible to be able to ask the victims or sufferers how they were feeling prior to the attack starting?
The initial way round this complete lack of evidence was to discuss and interview relatives and bystanders present at the various attacks but as these tended to take place sometime after the event it then tended to cast doubt on any findings.
Researchers from the University of Berlin have tried to circumvent this delay by interviewing Doctors who have worked as part of the various emergency response teams within the city. The various Healthcare Professionals contacted had recorded basic data such as where and when the arrest had happened and whether CPR had been used and other information felt to be of use. The results of these investigations actually painted a more complex picture of sudden cardiac arrest which is more troubling.
In results from two thirds of the incidences, someone heard or saw the victim collapse. By and large that someone also happened to be a family member since 75 percent of these incidences occurred at home.
The warning signs reported were surprisingly common amongst those witnessed. These included dizziness, nausea, chest pains and vomiting.
Some of these warning signs were experienced in some cases hours before the arrest. It was a telling factor that only in about 25 percent of these attacks did they occur in any true “out of the blue” manner and in the majority of the 90 percent of these cases these prior symptoms lasted for in excess of 5 minutes.
It would appear that rather than these attacks be totally unexpected the victims would have by and large been exhibiting symptoms of cardiovascular disease already but undiagnosed. Again, apparently, two thirds of the victims whose cases were studied in this exercise had already been diagnosed with Heart Disease, also had survived a previous Cardiac Arrest or had Angina or other signs of heart disease.
It would also appear that in the cases of the Cardiac Arrests occurring at home, only 11 percent of the victims had any CPR or assistance given to them as opposed to the 26 percent of those whose attacks occurred in Public.
The obvious conclusion here would seem that there is a greater likelihood of having trained CPR Professionals on hand when you are out in public than you would find at home. The overall findings of this survey would lead you to believe that as opposed to being sudden and unexpected, a fatal Cardiac Arrest, by and large was a recurring incident and far from being totally out of the blue.
Further resources worth checking
posted by Stephen at 11:16 PM
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