;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=de59f82d3ffbb96a79fde2163be4848b18f8e112ab47936db03a3c9978b81575 "“Death in seconds” also affects young people! Those are the warning signs")
A number of diseases can contribute to the heart muscle no longer pumping blood as it should. It twitches or flickers at a high frequency without blood being transported through the body. Ventricular fibrillation occurs and leads to circulatory collapse within a few seconds: the heart stops beating and blood pressure drops to “zero”. And all without warning.
More than 65,000 people in Germany die from such a sudden cardiac death every year. This makes it the most common cause of death outside of hospitals in this country. Those affected often have a long-standing disease of the coronary arteries, the so-called coronary heart disease. This is exactly what is often dismissed as a disease of old age. But not only old people get sick and are at risk of sudden cardiac death. The German Heart Foundation is now pointing this out.
People under the age of 40 also die of sudden cardiac death
It is rare, stresses its CEO Thomas Voigtländer, but it does happen – even with young athletes under 40 years of age. Many of these deaths at a young age could be avoided if those affected and their families, for example in the case of a hereditary predisposition, knew about their risk of “quick death” and were receiving medical care. “Unfortunately, many of these affected families do not know that they too should be examined. This lack of knowledge can also have fatal consequences for the relatives of those affected,” emphasizes Silke Kauferstein, head of the Center for Sudden Cardiac Death and Familial Arrhythmia Syndromes at the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the University Hospital in Frankfurt am Main.
For this reason, the German Heart Foundation, the Center for Sudden Cardiac Death and Familial Arrhythmia Syndromes at the University Hospital in Frankfurt and the Sports Medicine Saarbrücken/Saarland University have now started an information campaign. It is entitled “Together against sudden cardiac death”. As part of this, the experts want to train doctors better on the one hand. At the same time, however, it also draws the attention of those affected and possible risk groups.
Warning signs in young people
In about 40 percent of cases, those affected by sudden cardiac death are between the ages of 15 and 65, writes the Heart Foundation. Between the ages of one and 40, there are an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 deaths from sudden cardiac arrest in Germany every year high number of unreported cases.
Kauferstein and the Heart Foundation Chairman Voigtländer are therefore calling for more education among the population – and also among resident doctors. “Sudden cardiac death in young, apparently healthy people often appears as the first sign of the underlying heart disease, because this can go a long time without any clear symptoms,” explains Kauferstein. “However, in our detailed investigations of sudden cardiac deaths, we do see warning signals that were often misjudged.” Physicians and the public should therefore pay attention to the following warning signals:
Short periods of unconsciousness (syncope), especially with specific triggers such as stress, shrill alarm clock, physical exertion Seizures without clearly pathological findings (e.g. epilepsy) of an electroencephalography (EEG) Sudden unexplained deaths at a young age in the family, also sudden unexpected death in the Water unexplained car accident (even if epilepsy is known) in the family Heart failure (cardiac insufficiency) and/or the need for a pacemaker before the age of 50
If you notice such symptoms or know about family predispositions, you should definitely inform your doctor. “Anyone who, for example, faints on the way to the supermarket for no apparent reason should have this fainting spell clarified by a doctor,” emphasizes Kauferstein in the Heart Foundation podcast on this topic.
“Because of possible hereditary components that promote these life-threatening cardiac events, we have to sensitize potential risk groups – especially relatives who already have a young person with sudden cardiac death in the family – to this topic,” says Kauferstein. Because that can also protect siblings or the parents themselves.
How to protect your heart
At the same time, it is important to reduce their general risk of heart disease. This increases with age. Although nothing can be done about it, certain risk factors can be significantly influenced. According to the German Heart Foundation, the following points are part of promoting heart health:
stress reduction adequate exercise, preferably endurance sports such as hiking, cycling, jogging and swimming etc. a balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables as well as whole grain products and little meat avoid cigarettes avoid alcohol pay attention to blood pressure avoid or reduce overweight and abdominal fat preventive cardiological examination for the early detection of carry out cardiovascular diseases