title: Preventing tomorrow's sudden cardiac death today: part I: Current data on risk stratification for sudden cardiac death.
abstract: Accurate and timely prediction of sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a necessary prerequisite for effective prevention and therapy. Although the largest number of SCD events occurs in patients without overt heart disease, there are currently no tests that are of proven predictive value in this population. Efforts in risk stratification for SCD have focused primarily on predicting SCD in patients with known structural heart disease. Despite the ubiquity of tests that have been purported to predict SCD vulnerability in such patients, there is little consensus on which test, in addition to the left ventricular ejection fraction, should be used to determine which patients will benefit from an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. On July 20 and 21, 2006, a group of experts representing clinical cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology, biostatistics, economics, and health policy were joined by representatives of the US Food and Drug administration, Centers for Medicare Services, Agency for Health Research and Quality, the Heart Rhythm Society, and the device and pharmaceutical industry for a round table meeting to review current data on strategies of risk stratification for SCD, to explore methods to translate these strategies into practice and policy, and to identify areas that need to be addressed by future research studies. The meeting was organized by the Duke Center for the Prevention of SCD at the Duke Clinical Research Institute and was funded by industry participants. This article summarizes the presentations and discussions that occurred at that meeting.
authors.affiliation: The Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC 27715, USA. alkha001@mc.duke.edu
authors.forename: Sana M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Al-Khatib
authors.forename: Gillian D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: J Thomas
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Bigger
authors.forename: Alfred E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Buxton
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Califf
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.forename: Jeptha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fain
authors.forename: Bernard J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Gersh
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haghighi-Mood
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hammill
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Healey
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hlatky
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hohnloser
authors.forename: Raymond J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mark
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mianulli
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Eric N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Prystowsky
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Steinhaus
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zareba
mesh_terms: D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology; D017704:Baroreflex; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D015897:Comorbidity; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers