Cardiac arrest facts

Portable pulse The cardiac arrest that killed her active young son broke a St. Petersburg woman's heart. Her memorial to him could preserve the lives of other people.

By Times staff
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 29, 2002

• Men over age 45 and women over 55 are at greatest risk for cardiac arrest. The risk is also higher among people who smoke, are overweight or have diabetes.
• Sudden cardiac arrest claims about 250,000 American lives every year -- about 700 per day.
• In Florida, more than 12,300 people have a heart attack each year.
• More than 95 percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest die.
• Brain death starts to occur 4 to 6 minutes after cardiac arrest.
• For every minute a cardiac-arrest victim is not defibrillated, the odds of survival decline as much as 10 percent. After as little as 10 minutes, very few resuscitation attempts are successful.
• If defibrillation begins in 1 to 3 minutes, there is a 70-80 percent chance of survival.
• About 80 percent of people who survive sudden cardiac arrest are alive one year later, and nearly 60 percent are alive five years later.

Source: American Heart Association

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