“ There sudden death in adults is a death brutal which occurs in an apparently healthy person », Informs Professor Eloi Marijon.
In the majority of cases, sudden death is due to a cardiac cause. “ In 75% of sudden cardiac deaths, cardiac arrest is caused by coronary artery disease; in 15 to 20% of sudden deaths the cause is cardiomyopathy and in the remaining 5 to 10% a hereditary electrical disease (the heart is structurally healthy but an electrical short circuit promotes cardiac arrest) », explains Professor Marijon.
The average age in France for sudden cardiac death is 65 years. In two thirds of cases, it is a man, in two thirds of cases the sudden death occurs at home and there is a witness present on site also in two thirds of cases.
Sudden death: we can improve the mortality rate
Despite all the efforts made over the past 30 years to better prevent sudden death and identify people at risk, the figures for sudden deaths per year remain desperately stable. The survival rate, although slightly increasing, remains very low.
Barely 7% of people survive a cardiac arrest. However, ” we can act to drastically increase the number of survivors by making a simple external cardiac massage (MCE) and using an automated external defibrillator (AED) », indicates Professor Eloi Marijon who explains that the improvement in survival objectified in certain studies is always linked to the fact that the witness of the cardiac arrest initiates an MCE very early without wondering if the person (who has lost consciousness and is not breathing normally…) is in cardiac arrest….
Witness a cardiac arrest‚ I initiate a cardiac massage!
When you witness of a person who collapses‚ who does not react to stimulation‚ no longer breathes or breathes abnormally‚ it must be considered as sudden death by cardiac arrest and initiate an ECM immediately, before an AED can be sent as quickly as possible.
This MCE in parallel with a call for emergency help as quickly as possible saves lives. “ The loss of survival is 10% for each minute that passes,” underlines Professor Eloi Marijon. “It has been shown in a recent study (1) that the survival rate of an athlete who has suffered a cardiac arrest is greater than 80% when he has benefited from an immediate MCE by the witness and has benefited from the use of an AED », explains our expert.
Sudden death: training in first aid
Introduction to first aid procedures is essential. The training strategy has changed over the past ten years. Before we recommended two-day intensive training. Today, short, dynamic first aid training sessions repeated over time (every 2 or 3 years) are preferred. You can register throughout the year, for example, for first aid training sessions offered within the various Red Cross structures throughout France.
Information on www.croix-rouge.fr
(1)Marijon E. et al. Sports-related sudden cardiac arrest in young adults. Europace 2023
