The incidence of sudden cardiac death in the general population.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the incidence of sudden cardiac death in a general (Dutch) population.


METHODS
Cohort study in the Integrated Primary Care Information (IPCI) project, a database with all medical data from 150 general practices in The Netherlands. The study population comprised 249,126 subjects with a mean follow-up of 2.54 years.


RESULTS
In this period 4,892 deaths were identified, 582 of which were classified as (probable) sudden cardiac death. The overall incidence of sudden cardiac death in this population was 0.92 cases per 1,000 person-years (95%CI: 0.85-0.99). The risk was 2.3-fold higher in men than in women, and increased with age. The incidence of sudden cardiac death peaked in October and was lowest in August.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of sudden cardiac death in the general Dutch population was almost 1 per 1,000 person-years per year during the period 1 January, 1995 to 1 April, 2001. Most of the cases occurred at home.
Straus
S M J M
SM
Department of Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Bleumink
G S
GS
Dieleman
J P
JP
van der Lei
J
J
Stricker
B H Ch
BH
Sturkenboom
M C J M
MC
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016208:Databases, Factual; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012621:Seasons; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013315:Stress, Psychological