title: Major life events as potential triggers of sudden cardiac arrest.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We investigated the risk of sudden cardiac arrest in association with the recent loss of, or separation from, a family member or friend.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our case-crossover study included 490 apparently healthy married residents of King County, Washington, who suffered sudden cardiac arrest between 1988 and 2005. We compared exposure to spouse-reported family/friend events occurring ≤ 1 month before sudden cardiac arrest with events occurring in the previous 5 months. We evaluated potential effect modification by habitual vigorous physical activity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Recent family/friend events were associated with a higher risk of sudden cardiac arrest (odds ratio [OR] = 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1-2.4). ORs for cases with and without habitual vigorous physical activity were 1.1 (0.6-2.2) and 2.0 (1.2-3.1), respectively (interaction P = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest family/friend events may trigger sudden cardiac arrest and raise the hypothesis that habitual vigorous physical activity may lower susceptibility to these potential triggers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98101, USA. afwicks@uw.edu
authors.forename: April F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Wicks
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lumley
authors.forename: Rozenn N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Lemaitre
authors.forename: Nona
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sotoodehnia
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Rea
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McKnight
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Strogatz
authors.forename: Viktor E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Bovbjerg
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Siscovick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001601:Bereavement; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012306:Risk