The Mac Greeman Foundation
FAQ
Facts
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is when the heart’s normal rhythm suddenly becomes chaotic or stops beating altogether. The heart can no longer pump the blood effectively and the victim collapses, stops breathing, becomes unresponsive, and has no detectable pulse.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the leading cause of death. An estimated 326,200 people of all ages experience SCA in the U.S each year. Nine out of ten victims die.
An estimated 14,000 School Age Children Die from SCA globally each year.
In the US nearly 7,000 Children will experience SCA this year according to The American Heart Association.
SCA is a leading cause of sudden death in young people, with nearly 5,700 cases reported in children each year.
SCA accounts for nineteen percent of sudden deaths in children between ages 1 and 13 and thirty percent between ages 14 and 21.
Most often SCA occurs in children between ages 10-19 it is four times more likely to affect boys than girls. Sixty percent of the time SCA occurs during exercise or athletic activities.
SCA is the leading cause of death in young athletes. In the US a young competitive athlete dies from SCA every three days.
Two-thirds of the victims who experience SCA have underlying heart conditions.
Fifty percent of victims of SCA have no prior symptoms, and many have no previous history of heart disease.
The number of people who die each year from SCA is roughly equivalent to the number that die from Alzheimer’s disease, assault with firearms, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, HIV,
house fires, motor vehicle accidents, prostate cancer and suicides combined.
* Please Note
Prior to 2015, there was no mandatory or systematic national registry in place to record SCA/SCD in youth by credible sources such as medical facilities, medical examiners and coroners to a central national database of SCD in youth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have since created a pilot program - Sudden Death in the Young Registry.
FAQ
1. What is Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)?
Answer
2. Is SCA the same as a “heart attack”?
3. What causes SCA in young people?
4. Who is at risk for SCA?
5. What are the warning signs/symptoms of SCA?
Answer
6. How can you prevent SCA?
7. How should SCA be treated?
8. What role does CPR play in an SCA event?
9. How does an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) work?
Answer
10. Who can use an AED?
11. Where should AED's be placed?
12. What is the Chain of Survival?