Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is more common during nighttime hours for women than men, according to new research out of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
SCD, when a disturbance of someone’s heart rhythm causes their heart to stop beating, often occurs with no warning signs—and a majority of patients don’t survive. The study, published on Jan. 19 in Heart Rhythm, included data from more than 4,000 reported cases of SCD. All data came from the Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study.
Overall, the authors found, 66.2% of patients experiencing SCD were men, though women were more likely to present with nighttime SCD than men. Lung disease and a history of smoking were both more common among patients who experienced nighttime SCD compared to SCD during daytime hours.
Also, “brain-affecting medications” such as sedatives and drugs prescribed for pain or depression were found to be used by many patients who suffered nighttime SCD. For this reason, researchers suggested that physicians use caution when recommending such medications to high-risk female patients.
“Dying suddenly during nighttime hours is a perplexing and devastating phenomenon,” senior author Sumeet Chugh, MD, director of the Center for Cardiac Arrest Prevention in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, said in a statement. “We were surprised to discover that being female is an independent predictor of these events.”
“This important research may better guide physicians and the broader medical community to making more sound, science-backed recommendations in treating this difficult condition,” added Christine Albert, MD, chair of the department of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute. “It is also a necessary continuation of sex-based research defining much of the field of cardiology.”
The full study is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.