People who survive a heart attack face the greatest risk of dying from sudden cardiac death (SCD) during the first month after leaving the hospital, according to a long-term community study by Mayo Clinic researchers of nearly 3,000 heart attack survivors.
Sudden cardiac death can happen when the heart’s electrical system malfunctions; if treatment — cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation –— does not happen fast, a person dies.
After that first month, the risk of sudden cardiac death drops significantly — but rises again if a person experiences signs of heart failure. The research results appear in the Nov. 5 edition of Journal of the American Medical Association.
This study emphasizes the need for physicians to stay in close contact with their heart attack patients, forming a partnership to recognize symptoms, says Veronique Roger, M.D., M.P.H., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and lead author of the study. Physicians and patients — and their family members —need to be keenly alert for the symptoms of heart failure, as described by the American Heart Association, Dr. Roger says.
Below is a link to an edited a youtube video with Dr. Roger.
Update: Here is the story as it appeared on MedPage Today.
One Comment
Thank you for the very informative study…having survived a year since my heart attack I must say I still get an occasional shortness of breath. What’s challenging is not knowing whether another attack is lying in the wait, or the symptoms are just the aftermath of having stents and a mildly damaged heart. Perhaps there are other studies which may enlighten me on this.