Risk of dying or surviving from a heart attack can be predicted

“For some people,the first heart attack is more likely to be their last,” said Elsayed Z. Soliman,M.D.,M.Sc.,M.S.,director of the Epidemiological Cardiology Research Center (EPICARE) at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study.

“For these people especially,it is important that we find ways to prevent that first heart attack from ever happening because their chances of living through it are not as good.”

Millions of people succumb to sudden cardiac death every year,caused by coronary heart disease.

“Since sudden cardiac death usually occurs before patients ever make it to the hospital,there is very little that can be done to save them,” Soliman said.

“Identifying specific predictors that separate the risk of sudden cardiac death from that of non-fatal or not immediately fatal heart attacks would be the first step to address this problem,” he added.