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Review
. 2016 Mar 8;133(10):1006-26.
doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.115.020254.

Sudden Cardiac Death in the Young

Michael Ackerman  1 , Dianne L Atkins  1 , John K Triedman  2
Affiliations
Review

Sudden Cardiac Death in the Young

Michael Ackerman et al. Circulation. .

Abstract

Although the occurrence of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in a young person is a rare event, it is traumatic and often widely publicized. In recent years, SCD in this population has been increasingly seen as a public health and safety issue. This review presents current knowledge relevant to the epidemiology of SCD and to strategies for prevention, resuscitation, and identification of those at greatest risk. Areas of active research and controversy include the development of best practices in screening, risk stratification approaches and postmortem evaluation, and identification of modifiable barriers to providing better outcomes after resuscitation of young SCD patients. Institution of a national registry of SCD in the young will provide data that will help to answer these questions.

Keywords: congenital heart disease; death, sudden, cardiac; heart arrest; pediatrics; resuscitation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Causes of death in American children
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age distribution of SCD in the Danish population, 2000 – 2006 (used with permission)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of different arrhythmia types as a function of age in patients with tetralogy of Fallot. (Used with permission)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of causes of death among young US athletes. (Used with permission)
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison of four studies of SCD etiology. (Used with permission)
Figure 6
Figure 6
The Chain of Survival rubric.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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