Sudden cardiac death (SCA) is what happens when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating, reducing blood flow to the brain and other vital organs. Causes of SCA include too fast or too slow heart rhythms, blockages in the arteries that supply blood to the heart, as well as other causes that do not affect the heart like illegal drugs or a motor vehicle accident.
SCA is major public health problem in Canada affecting ~35,000 Canadians each year and unfortunately most people die from it. If we can understand what causes the heart to suddenly stop, we can then figure out how to prevent it from happening and also how we can make the lives of the people who survive it better. To do all of this, we need to measure exactly how many sudden cardiac arrests happen each year and why they happened. We hope that by better understanding what causes these sudden cardiac arrests to happen, this will help us to then tell the Canadian public what signs or symptoms they need to watch out for so that they can call 911.
This project is a result of collaboration between the Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (CanROC) and the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet). With the knowledge we will gain from this project, we will develop projects aimed at reducing the risk of SCA and potential therapies for patients who are at highest risk for SCA. We also aim to increase public awareness and knowledge by broadly sending out information from this project through our partnerships with national organizations.
