​​Smitty's  Plan  for  O​rthopedic  Rehabilitation  &  Training

SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST (SCA)

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a life-threatening emergency that occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating. It strikes people of all ages who may seem to be healthy, even children and teens. When SCA happens, the person collapses and doesn’t respond or breathe normally. They may gasp or shake as if having a seizure. SCA leads to death in minutes if the person does not get help right away. Survival depends on people nearby calling 911, starting CPR¹, and using an AED² (if available) as soon as possible.

¹CPR: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is when you push hard and fast on the center of the chest to make the heart pump. Compressions may be given with or without rescue breaths.

²AED: Automated external defibrillator is a device that analyzes the heart and if it detects a problem may deliver a shock to restart the heart’s normal rhythm.

OHCA incidence: Children 

  • Based on ROC data, the incidence of EMS-assessed OHCA in children in 2015 was 7,037.[1]
  • Based on CARES data, in 2020, the location of OHCA in children was most often home (87.5%), followed by a public place (12.2%).


Sports-related SCA/SCD

  • Sports-related SCA accounted for 39% of SCAs among those ­<18 years of age, 13% for those 19-25 years of age, and 7% for those 25-34 in a prospective registry of 3,775 SCAs in Portland, OR between 2002-2015.
  • The incidence of SCD from Lexis Nexis and public media reports during youth sport participation, estimated by the Sport and Fitness Industry Association from 2007-2015, was 1.83 deaths per 10-million athlete years.
  • Pre-participation screening of 5,169 middle and high school students (mean age 13 years) from 2010-2017 revealed high-risk cardiovascular conditions in 1.47%.


OHCA outcomes: Children

  • Survival to hospital discharge after EMS-treated nontraumatic OHCA in 2015 was 13.2% for children in the ROC epistry.
  • Survival to hospital discharge was 6.5% for 1,366 children < 1 year of age, 14.4% for 880 children 1-12 years of age, and 21.2% for 736 children 13-18 years of age (CARES 2020). 


OHCA outcomes: Sports-related SCA-SCD

  • In a population-based registry of all paramedic responses for SCA from 2009-2014, 43.8% of athletes with SCA during competitive sports survived to hospital discharge.


​​​Taken from Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. https://www.sca-aware.org/

The American Heart Association has released Heart and Stroke Statistics - 2022 Update. According to the report, cardiac arrest remains a public health crisis. There are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) annually in the U.S., nearly 90% of them fatal. The incidence of EMS-assessed non-traumatic OHCA in people of any age is estimated to be 356,461, or nearly 1,000 people each day. Survival to hospital discharge after EMS-treated cardiac arrest languishes at about 10%.