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What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

Usually, the first sign of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is loss of consciousness (fainting). At the same time, no heartbeat (or pulse) can be felt.

 

Some people may have a racing heartbeat or feel dizzy or lightheaded just before they faint. Within an hour before SCA, some people have chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea (feeling sick to the stomach), or vomiting.

 

 

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Who Is At Risk for Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

Each year, between 250,000 and 450,000 Americans have sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). SCA occurs most often in people in their mid-thirties to mid-forties. It appears to affect men twice as often as women.

 

SCA rarely occurs in children unless they have inherited problems that make them likely to have SCA. Only a very small number of children have SCA each year.

 

Major Risk Factors

The major risk factor for SCA is undiagnosed coronary artery disease (CAD). Most people who have SCA are later found to have some degree of CAD. Most of these people don't know that they have CAD until SCA occurs.

 

Their CAD is "silent"—that is, it has no signs or symptoms. Because of this, doctors and nurses have not detected it. Most cases of SCA happen in people who have silent CAD and who have no known heart disease prior to SCA.

 

Many people who have SCA also have a silent, or undiagnosed, heart attack before SCA happens.

 

These people have no obvious signs of heart attack, and they don't even realize that they've had one. The chances for having SCA are higher during the first 6 months after a heart attack.

 

 

Other Risk Factors

Other risk factors for SCA include: