An estimated 40 to 63 percent of sudden cardiac arrest cases could be prevented by improving unfavorable profiles
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, May 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Modifiable, nonclinical risk factors such as lifestyle modifications and physical measures may reduce the risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), according to a study published online April 28 in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
Huihuan Luo, Ph.D., from Fudan University in Shanghai, and colleagues identified nonclinical modifiable risk factors associated with SCA incidence. An exposome-wide association study was conducted using 125 potentially modifiable risk factors extracted from the U.K. Biobank cohort (502,094 individuals).
The researchers found that during a median follow-up duration of 13.8 years, SCA was associated with 56 risk factors spanning lifestyles, physical measures, psychosocial factors, socioeconomic status, and the local environment. The protective effects of three factors (computer use, higher rates of consumption of champagne and/or white wine, and fruit intake) were confirmed through a Mendelian randomization analysis, which also confirmed adverse effects associated with six factors (fed-up feelings, greater arm fat mass and percentage, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and lower education level). An estimated 40 to 63 percent of SCA cases could be prevented by improving unfavorable profiles. Lifestyle modifications accounted for the largest proportion of preventable cases, followed by improvements in physical measures, psychosocial factors, socioeconomic status, and the local environment.
“Theoretically, disease prevention through lifestyle modification represents a low-cost, easily implemented, highly feasible and high-yield approach, although poor compliance of individuals has made this difficult to achieve,” the authors write.
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