Jul. 1--More photos

The deaths of pop superstar Michael Jackson and infomercial king Billy Mays are renewing attention to sudden cardiac arrest, a major killer that claims more than 100 lives a year in Morgan County.

An autopsy shows Jackson died of sudden cardiac arrest Thursday and preliminary findings in the autopsy of Mays, who died Sunday, point to sudden cardiac arrest and heart disease as the cause.

Jackson was 50; Mays was 49.

"It's a shame when someone his age dies so suddenly," American Heart Association President Clyde Yancy said. "Although we don't know all the details of the situation, it's important for people to know the signs and how to react quickly."

Sudden cardiac arrest claims more than 325,000 lives in the U.S. each year -- claiming a life every two minutes. In 2006 in Morgan County, the most recent statistics available, there were 113 deaths attributed to sudden cardiac arrest, according to the Morgan County Health Department.

Deaths from sudden cardiac arrest have shown dramatic rises among women, blacks and those between the ages of 15 and 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although sometimes viewed in the same light as a heart attack, when sudden cardiac arrest occurs, the heart simply stops. Without emergency intervention, it can lead to death within a few minutes.

Ninety-two percent of victims don't survive, according to the American Heart Association.

"During a heart attack, the patient is alive," explained Wendy Easton, emergency room manager at Passavant Area Hospital. "In cardiac arrest, your heart has stopped and you have to go into advanced life support measures, which means drugs, ventilation and CPR."

Sudden cardiac arrest is usually triggered when electrical impulses in the heart become irregular -- rapid (known as ventricular tachycardia), chaotic (known as ventricular fibrillation) or both. Heart attacks are triggered by heart muscle pumping problems and are generally caused by blockage in the heart's blood vessels.

"A heart attack doesn't always make your heart stop," Easton said.

Unlike heart attacks, there are rarely warning signs before sudden cardiac arrest and it can affect seemingly healthy people.

Easton said that in her experience, there is little warning when someone is going to go into sudden cardiac arrest.

"They get faint, dizzy and they fall," she said, "I witness people go into cardiac arrests and some people have seizures when they do it. There's just a wide array of things."

One of the most effective tools against sudden cardiac arrest is defibrillation, basically an electric jolt to restore the heart's normal rhythm. But even that works for only a few minutes after the attack.

Some states have mandated the placement of automated external defibrillator in public locations. In Illinois, a law honoring a 30-year-old House of Representatives attorney who died at a gym from sudden cardiac arrest required defibrillators in physical fitness facilities. Schools, airports and other public gathering places frequently carry the devices.

Risk factors

According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, people at any age or gender and even those who seem in good health can be at risk.

Testing is especially important for those with:

--A history of early heart disease, heart attack or cardiac death in the family.

--Unexplained fainting or near-fainting episodes or palpitations

--Chest pain, shortness of breath or fainting upon exertion (such as during sports).

--Heart failure or heart attack.

--Weak heart muscle or poor cardiac ejection.

--Cardiac risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, smoking or high cholesterol.

Being prepared

The American Heart Association said the warning signs of cardiac arrest include a person losing consciousness, stopping normal breathing and losing pulse and blood pressure.

Here's what should be done:

--Call 911 immediately.

--Give cardiopulmonary resuscitation to help keep the cardiac arrest victim alive until emergency help arrives.

--If you don't know CPR or haven't been trained, call 911 and push hard and fast on the center of the chest until help arrives.

<< -- 07/02/2009>>

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