Abstract 14964: Sudden Cardiac Death in Current vs. Former Smokers

Abstract

Introduction: Smoking is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but its role in sudden cardiac death (SCD) specifically has not been as well investigated. We sought to describe smoking prevalence among cases that suffered SCD in the general population. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that smoking prevalence would be high among SCD cases. Methods: Cases of SCD from an ongoing multiple-source community-based study of SCD in the northwest US (pop. approx. 1 million) were included if they were age ≥18 with smoking history available from medical records. We describe the prevalence of smoking in the SCD population, as well as characteristics of smokers vs. non-smokers. Results: From 2002 -2012, 1833 (76%) of 2402 SCD cases had pre-SCD medical records available, and smoking history was available for 1241 (68%) of these. While 2007-8 community data (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study) indicated that 16% of Oregonian adults were current smokers, among the SCD cases, 40% were current smokers, 31% former smokers, and 29% non-smokers. Men were more likely than women to be current smokers (42% vs. 37%) or former smokers (35% vs. 23%); 40% of women and 24% of men were non-smokers (p<0.0001). Among SCD cases, current smokers were significantly younger at the time of their SCD (57.8 ± 13.2 yrs) than former smokers (70.0 ± 12.9 yrs) or non-smokers (66.6 ± 17.9 yrs; p<0.0001), despite a similar number of years smoked among the current and former smokers (33 vs 29 years, p=0.22). Former smokers were more likely to have a history of myocardial infarction and documented CAD than current smokers (p<0.0001). Conclusions: In this community-based study of SCD, current and former smoking was a common finding; current smokers suffered SCD at a younger age than former smokers, despite less documented CAD and MI at the time of their arrest.