5 ms·

What does it mean `her heart just stopped`? Is that a heart attack? Sounds super freaky that the heart can just... stop

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
towb 8y ago
Don't know, I think it could mean a lot of things. You usually read about it when healthy young persons drops dead on a football field in the middle of practice. Saw some numbers about it recently, happens a lot.
azhenley 8y ago
I believe the medical term is "cardiac arrest". It is different than a heart attack. Something caused the heart to stop beating.
- gonzo 8y ago
  They coded my brother as SCA (sudden cardiac arrest).
stefan_ 8y ago
With youngish people, it's congenital heart defects that cause the heart to stop. Happens all the time, mostly during endurance exercise, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/09/michael-goolaerts-death-paris-roubaix https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/09/michael-goolae...
tathougies 8y ago
I guess it's scary, but people do drop dead. I was working at a startup once, and in my monitor reflection, I see the guy behind me drop to the floor. He started convulsing, and then was still. We called the paramedics, but the next morning we learned he had died. That was it. No warning. An otherwise healthy guy. You never know when it's going to be your day.
kayoone 8y ago
cardiac arrest, it's pretty rare but still scary. Over 400k Americans die from it every year.
- tezzer 8y ago
  400k doesn't sound so rare. The entire population of Tulsa OK, Wichita KS, or New Orleans, LA just drops dead every year?
  - coolspot 8y ago
    ROC – Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium datum were gathered between June 1, 2014 and May 31, 2015 and includes EMS-assessed and EMS-treated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from multiple regions of the US. According to the ROC: Approximately 356,461 people in the US experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (347,922 adults, 7,037 children under age 18) 22,520 of those 356,461 were witnessed by bystanders 12.4% survived to hospital discharge Of the EMS patients who experienced non-traumatic cardiac arrest outside a hospital, and did not have bystander intervention, 10.8% survived until hospital discharge [999] - https://www.aedsuperstore.com/resources/sudden-cardiac-arrest-statistics/ https://www.aedsuperstore.com/resources/sudden-cardiac-arres...
  - bzbarsky 8y ago
    It's rare in young healthy-acting people. For example, http://www.sca-aware.org/sca-news/aha-releases-2015-heart-and-stroke-statistics http://www.sca-aware.org/sca-news/aha-releases-2015-heart-an... says that the incidence is 0.24 per 100k annually for high school athletes in Minnesota. Extrapolating that rate to the whole US population would give ~800 deaths per year. The observed 400k number includes quite a lot of people who suffer cardiac arrest after a history of heart disease.
- poulsbohemian 8y ago
  If this is a topic you'd like to know more about or donate to, consider: https://viaheartproject.org https://viaheartproject.org
rozap 8y ago
This happens all the time. It happened to my dad, who was healthy and exercised regularly. After a bike ride he collapsed and died. Often there are warnings, like arythmias which I guess can be signs the electrical functions aren't great. Those sorts of congenital defects are hard to detect, acknowledge and treat seriously as a condition.
claydavisss 8y ago
Wolf-Parkinsons-White aka "sudden death syndrome" Some people have heart defects that leave them susceptible to instant surprise heart failure. A notable case is a college basketball player a few years ago who literally just died running across the court. My wife has this!

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

towb 8y ago

Don't know, I think it could mean a lot of things. You usually read about it when healthy young persons drops dead on a football field in the middle of practice. Saw some numbers about it recently, happens a lot.

azhenley 8y ago

I believe the medical term is "cardiac arrest". It is different than a heart attack. Something caused the heart to stop beating.

gonzo 8y ago
They coded my brother as SCA (sudden cardiac arrest).

stefan_ 8y ago

With youngish people, it's congenital heart defects that cause the heart to stop. Happens all the time, mostly during endurance exercise, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/09/michael-goolaerts-death-paris-roubaix https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/09/michael-goolae...

tathougies 8y ago

I guess it's scary, but people do drop dead. I was working at a startup once, and in my monitor reflection, I see the guy behind me drop to the floor. He started convulsing, and then was still. We called the paramedics, but the next morning we learned he had died. That was it. No warning. An otherwise healthy guy. You never know when it's going to be your day.

kayoone 8y ago

cardiac arrest, it's pretty rare but still scary. Over 400k Americans die from it every year.

tezzer 8y ago
400k doesn't sound so rare. The entire population of Tulsa OK, Wichita KS, or New Orleans, LA just drops dead every year?
- coolspot 8y ago
  ROC – Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium datum were gathered between June 1, 2014 and May 31, 2015 and includes EMS-assessed and EMS-treated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from multiple regions of the US. According to the ROC: Approximately 356,461 people in the US experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (347,922 adults, 7,037 children under age 18) 22,520 of those 356,461 were witnessed by bystanders 12.4% survived to hospital discharge Of the EMS patients who experienced non-traumatic cardiac arrest outside a hospital, and did not have bystander intervention, 10.8% survived until hospital discharge [999] - https://www.aedsuperstore.com/resources/sudden-cardiac-arrest-statistics/ https://www.aedsuperstore.com/resources/sudden-cardiac-arres...
- bzbarsky 8y ago
  It's rare in young healthy-acting people. For example, http://www.sca-aware.org/sca-news/aha-releases-2015-heart-and-stroke-statistics http://www.sca-aware.org/sca-news/aha-releases-2015-heart-an... says that the incidence is 0.24 per 100k annually for high school athletes in Minnesota. Extrapolating that rate to the whole US population would give ~800 deaths per year. The observed 400k number includes quite a lot of people who suffer cardiac arrest after a history of heart disease.
poulsbohemian 8y ago
If this is a topic you'd like to know more about or donate to, consider: https://viaheartproject.org https://viaheartproject.org

rozap 8y ago

This happens all the time. It happened to my dad, who was healthy and exercised regularly. After a bike ride he collapsed and died. Often there are warnings, like arythmias which I guess can be signs the electrical functions aren't great. Those sorts of congenital defects are hard to detect, acknowledge and treat seriously as a condition.

claydavisss 8y ago

Wolf-Parkinsons-White aka "sudden death syndrome" Some people have heart defects that leave them susceptible to instant surprise heart failure. A notable case is a college basketball player a few years ago who literally just died running across the court. My wife has this!