Lower Sudden Cardiac Death Rates Observed in Women with Healthy Lifestyles

July 6th, 2011

Lower Sudden Cardiac Death Rates Observed in Women with Healthy Lifestyles

Larry Husten, PHD

It probably won’t come as a big surprise, but a new study finds that women who live a healthy lifestyle have a lower risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD). In a paper published in JAMA, Stephanie Chiuve and colleagues analyzed data from 81,722 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study. They used 4 factors to identify a low-risk lifestyle:

not smoking
BMI <25
exercise lasting 30 minutes or longer per day
adherence to the Mediterranean diet

Each factor was individually associated with a significant reduction in risk for SCD. Here are the absolute risks and adjusted relative risks for SCD in women with:

0 low-risk factors: 22 cases/100,000 person-years, RR=1
1 low-risk factor: 17/100,000, RR = 0.54
2 low-risk factors: 18/100,000, RR =0.41
3 low-risk factors: 13/100,000, RR = 0.33
4 low-risk factors: 16/100,000, RR = 0.08

The authors calculated that 4 out of every 5 SCDs may be attributed to “unhealthy lifestyle practices.” They concluded: “Because SCD accounts for more than 50% of CHD mortality, widespread adoption of a healthy lifestyle in the population may make a substantial impact on reaching the American Heart Association’s 2020 Impact Goal of further lowering cardiovascular disease mortality.”

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July 6th, 2011