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SCA Facts

SCA is one of the nation's leading killers1

  • SCA accounts for almost 15% of all deaths1
  • SCA kills more people each year than breast cancer, lung cancer, and AIDS combined2,3
  • SCA kills nearly 1,000 people every day1
  • SCA can occur in an instant without warning
  • 40% of SCA is not witnessed
  • Today, 95% of SCA victims die because lifesaving defibrillation therapy was not delivered within four to six critical minutes4-6

ICD therapy: the standard of care for patients at proven risk for SCA

  • The 2006 ACC/AHA/ESC Management of Patients with Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Guidelines have a Class I recommendation for nearly all implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) indications7
  • ICDs are highly reliable and 98% effective in preventing death due to SCA8
  • Today, more than half a million people in the United States are protected by ICD therapy

Many people at proven risk for SCA have not yet been considered for ICD therapy

  • At highest risk for SCA: people with a low Ejection Fraction - those who have had a heart attack, heart failure patients, survivors of a previous SCA, or those who have a family member who has had an SCA
  • The 2006 ACC/AHA/ESC Management of Patients with Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Guidelines, which recommend ICD therapy as the standard of care, have not been fully implemented
  • Many thousands of patients with a Class I recommendation for an ICD remain unprotected from SCA
  • ICDs are valuable, potentially lifesaving therapies that are underutilized. Over 800,000 patients at proven risk for SCA remain unprotected
  • Less than 35% of patients with an indication for an ICD have one

References

  1. Zheng ZJ, Croft JB, Giles WH, Mensah GA. Sudden cardiac death in the United States, 1989 to 1998. Circulation. October 30, 2001;104(18):2158-2163.
  2. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2006.
  3. CIA. The World Factbook -- Rank Order -- HIV/AIDs -- deaths. Available at: http://www.cia.gov.
  4. Ginsburg W. Prepare to be shocked: the evolving standard of care in treating sudden cardiac arrest. Am J Emer Med. 1998;16(3):315-319.
  5. Pell JP, Sirel JM, Marsden AK, Ford I, Walker NL, Cobbe SM. Presentation, management, and outcome of out of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest: comparison by underlying aetiology. Heart. August 2003;89(8):839-842.
  6. de Vreede-Swagemakers JJ, Gorgels AP, Dubois-Arbouw WI, et al. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the 1990's: a population-based study in the Maastricht area on incidence, characteristics and survival. J Am Coll Cardiol. November 15, 1997;30(6):1500-1505.
  7. Zipes DP, Camm AJ, Borggrefe M, et al. ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 Guidelines for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death -- Executive Summary. A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force and the European Society of Cardiology Committee for Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Develop Guidelines for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death). J Am Coll Cardiol. September 5, 2006;48(5):1064-1108.
  8. Zipes DP, Roberts D. Results of the international study of the implantable pacemaker cardioverter-defibrillator. A comparison of epicardial and endocardial lead systems. The Pacemaker-Cardioverter-Defibrillator Investigators. Circulation. July 1, 1995;92(1):59-65.