Women are at Higher Risk of Fatal Night Cardiac Arrest: Report

A recent study says that women are at higher risk of suffering from sudden cardiac death during nighttime hours than men. Center for Cardiac Arrest Prevention in the Smidt Heart Institute, led the study and found that during the nighttime hours, women are more prone to cardiac arrest as compared to men.

Experts are mystified with this as during these late hours, most patients have low blood pressure, metabolism, heart rate and are resting. People get confused between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest.

A heart attack is caused by the blockage in the coronary arteries due to the buildup of cholesterol. Heart attack shows its symptoms whereas cardiac arrest is absent of any warning signs. Cardiac arrest is more fatal than heart attack with only 10% of patients surviving hospital cardiac arrest.

Of the total people affected by cardiac arrest in the US each year, 17 to 41% of them occur during the night time from 10 pm to 6 am. Based on the studies, experts found that most of the cases of cardiac arrest at nighttime were likely to be females.

While further researches and studies are required for a conclusion, researchers say that there may be a respiratory component in females that might be causing this increased risk for females.