Women can reduce sudden cardiac death with basic lifestyle practices

It doesn't hurt to have a reminder of the power of lifestyle factors to reduce chronic disease such as this study just published in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) in which the authors correlated several of them to the risk of sudden cardiac death. As they note, sudden death is often the first sign of heart disease:

"Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for more than half of all cardiac deaths; the majority of SCD events occur as the first manifestation of heart disease, especially among women. Primary preventive strategies are needed to reduce SCD incidence."

Sudden cardiac death means dying within an hour of the onset of symptoms. For their purpose they defined a "healthy lifestyle" as not smoking, having a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25, exercising for 30 minutes per day or longer, and to exceed 40% of the alternate Mediterranean diet score (defined as a high intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, whole versus refined grains, fish and moderate alcohol. What did the data show?

"All 4 low-risk lifestyle factors were significantly and independently associated with a lower risk of SCD. The absolute risks of SCD were 22 cases/100 000 person-years among women with 0 low-risk factors, 17 cases/100 000 person-years with 1 low-risk factor, 18 cases/100 000 person-years with 2 low-risk factors, 13 cases/100 000 person-years with 3 low-risk factors, and 16 cases/100 000 person-years with 4 low-risk factors. Compared with women with 0 low-risk factors, the multivariable relative risk of SCD was 0.54 for women with 1 low-risk factor, 0.41 for 2 low-risk factors, 0.33 for 3 low-risk factors, and 0.08 for 4 low-risk factors. The proportion of SCD attributable to smoking, inactivity, overweight, and poor diet was 81%. Among women without clinically diagnosed coronary heart disease, the percentage of population attributable risk was 79%."

Considering that the benefits of diet and exercise can be further enhanced by customization according to functional metabolic-genomic assessment needs and more effective time-saving interval training respectively, it is likely that even these significant percentages can be further improved. The authors conclude:

"Adherence to a low-risk lifestyle is associated with a low risk of SCD."