• Posted April 29, 2025

Lifestyle Poses Greatest Risk For Cardiac Arrest

Nearly two-thirds of cardiac arrest cases could be prevented by managing lifestyle, environmental and personal health risks, a new study says.

Researchers found that addressing 56 everyday risk factors for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) could prevent up to 63% of cases, researchers reported today in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

“We were surprised by the large proportion (40%–63%) of SCA cases that could be prevented by improving unfavorable profiles,” senior researcher Renjie Chen, a professor at Fudan University School of Public Health in Shanghai, said in a news release.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

To delve into risks for cardiac arrest, researchers analyzed data on more than 502,000 people participating in the UK Biobank, a long-term health study in the United Kingdom.

Of the participants, 3,147 suffered from sudden cardiac arrest during an average follow-up of nearly 14 years.

Researchers compared the cardiac arrest victims to the healthy people using a set of 125 potentially modifiable risk factors that included diet and exercise, smoking and drinking, depression and loneliness, exposure to pollution, employment and finances, and excess weight and blood pressure.

The analysis revealed 56 risk factors that were strongly linked to sudden cardiac arrest, including 25 that had an impact in 10% to 17% of cases. These included smoking, exercise, time spent watching TV, obesity, sleep, trouble breathing, hand grip strength and education level.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study that comprehensively investigated the associations between non-clinical modifiable risk factors and sudden cardiac arrest incidence,” Chen said.

Lifestyle habits had the largest impact on cardiac arrest risk, with potential cases declining by up to 18% if people addressed problems like eating right, exercising, smoking and drinking, researchers found.

“The study found significant associations between various modifiable factors and sudden cardiac arrest, with lifestyle changes being the most impactful in preventing cases,” lead researcher Huihuan Luo with the Fudan University School of Public Health said in a news release.

Overall, cardiac arrest cases could drop by 40% to 63% if people addressed or completely resolved the most powerful risk factors, researchers concluded.

Researchers said they were surprised to find that time spent on a computer — a sedentary behavior — appeared to have a protective effect. The study said that might owe to higher education among computer users rather than a direct protective effect.

The team also identified factors that could reduce cardiac arrest risk, such as higher consumption of champagne or white wine, maintaining a positive mood, dropping excess weight, controlling blood pressure and getting more education.

“One of the study’s most intriguing findings is the cardioprotective effect associated with champagne and white wine consumption, questioning long-held assumptions about the specificity of red wine's cardioprotective properties,” said the lead author of an accompanying editorial, Nicholas Grubic, a doctoral student in public health at the University of Ontario in Canada.

“Research on the underlying mechanisms remains unclear, but these findings reinforce the idea that the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption may be more complex than previously assumed,” Grubic said in a news release.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on cardiac arrest.

SOURCES: Canadian Journal of Cardiology, April 29, 2025; Elsevier, news release, April 29, 2025