Midlife risk factor exposure and incidence of cardiac arrest depending on cardiac or non-cardiac origin.

OBJECTIVE

Little is known about midlife risk factors of future cardiac arrest. Our objective was to evaluate cardiovascular risk factors in midlife in relation to the risk of cardiac arrest (CA) of cardiac and non-cardiac origin later in life.

METHODS

We cross-matched individuals of the population based Malmö Diet and Cancer study (n=30,447) with the local CA registry of the city of Malmö. Baseline exposures were related to incident CA.

RESULTS

During a mean follow-up of 17.6±4.6years, 378 CA occurred, of whom 17.2% survived to discharge. Independent midlife risk factors for CA of cardiac origin included coronary artery disease {HR 2.84 (1.86-4.34) (p<0.001)}, diabetes mellitus {HR 2.37 (1.61-3.51) (p<0.001)} and smoking {HR 1.95 (1.49-2.55) (p<0.001)}. Dyslipidemia and history of stroke were also significantly associated with an elevated risk for CA of cardiac origin. Independent midlife risk factors for CA of non-cardiac origin included obesity (BMI>30kg/m) {HR 2.37 (1.51-3.71) (p<0.001)}, smoking {HR 2.05 (1.33-3.15) (p<0.001)} and being on antihypertensive treatment {HR 2.25 (1.46-3.46) (p<0.001)}.

CONCLUSION

Apart from smoking, which increases the risk of CA in general, the midlife risk factor pattern differs between CA of cardiac and non-cardiac origin. Whereas CA of cardiac origin is predicted by history of cardiovascular disease, dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus, the main risk factors for CA of non-cardiac origin are obesity and hypertension. In addition to control of classical cardiovascular risk factors for prevention of CA, our results suggest that prevention of midlife obesity may reduce the risk of CA of non-cardiac origin.