Can a healthy person die from sudden cardiac arrest: explained by a doctor 0 7

Some still mistakenly believe that a sick heart is a story only about elderly people. However, cardiovascular diseases continue to rapidly affect younger individuals; doctors are saving students, schoolchildren, and even very young children from heart attacks and strokes.

There are also other heart diseases that often go unnoticed. When the first alarming signs appear, we tend to ignore them: shortness of breath goes away if you lie down, and a cough does not interfere with work and daily activities.

It may seem that a person is completely healthy, having worked and exercised yesterday, and today suddenly their heart stops. However, practice shows that there is rarely any "sudden" in medicine. The body always tries to warn about danger.

Expert - Lyubov Lifanova, cardiologist

From this, we can conclude that a completely healthy person cannot die from sudden cardiac arrest (we do not take into account shock situations, medical anomalies, those rare cases associated with extremely rare pathologies or those that are completely unexplained).

"That sudden cardiac arrest can occur due to hidden heart pathology. For example, ischemic heart disease often proceeds asymptomatically; a person learns about the diagnosis when they are already in critical condition," says Lyubov Lifanova.

Another common problem is arrhythmia. The diagnosis may not announce itself until a fatal attack, meaning a person may not even suspect that they need a cardiologist's help, medication therapy, or even surgery.

Remember that some heart diseases are hereditary. For example, familial hypercholesterolemia has a specific type of inheritance. However, in most cases, genetics influences predisposition but does not determine the future, says the cardiologist.

You may not encounter the pathology that affected your grandmother or mother if you eat properly, give up bad habits, and generally start leading a healthy lifestyle.

How to understand that the heart is in danger

Scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden previously conducted a study examining the sudden cardiac death syndrome. It turned out that 33% of participants who experienced sudden cardiac arrest sought medical help a year and a half before their death.

Most often, people complained of the following symptoms:

• fainting (which became a reason for hospitalization);

• seizures (also a common reason for doctor visits);

• rapid heartbeat;

• nausea;

• vomiting;

• signs of infectious diseases (for example, fever).

You should also be alarmed by persistent shortness of breath, chest pain, severe weakness, and a feeling of fear that seems to come out of nowhere — all of these are valid reasons to urgently consult a doctor.