f. Choking on food or other objects.
g. Anaphylactic shock (shock caused by hypersensitivity [severe allergic
reaction] to a substance such as the venom from a bee sting).
h. Trauma (major injury).
i. Medical reasons (terminal illness, septic shock, sudden infant death
syndrome, and so forth).
j.
Hypovolemic shock (shock caused by severe blood loss).
k. Drug reaction.
2-3.
PREDISPOSING FACTORS OF HEART ATTACK (RISK FACTORS)
Disease related to the heart and blood vessels are the greatest killers of people
in this country. According to a 2005 American Heart Association study, sudden cardiac
death from coronary heart disease occurs over 900 times per day in the United States.
The risk in adults is estimated to be about 1 per 1,000 adults 35 years of age and older
per year. Sudden cardiac death in the young (people less than 35 years old) is much
less common than in older adults, occurring in only 0.5 to 1 per 100,000 per year. A
review of published studies that report initial heart rhythms during cardiac arrest in
children indicates that the majority (40 to 90 percent) of children have asystole
(a-SIS'to-le) or pulseless electrical activity when first evaluated. However, ventricular
fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia (ven-TRIK'u-ler tak"eh-KAR'de-ah) is found in about
7 to 14 percent of all children in cardiac arrest in the prehospital setting. About 60 to 70
percent of people who suffer myocardial infarction (MI) die before they reach a hospital.
Most deaths from myocardial infarction occur within 2 hours following the heart attack.
Death is usually caused by cardiac dysrhythmia (ventricular tachycardia), in which
abnormal heart contractions prevent the normal circulation of blood. Some of the
predisposing factors (those factors which make an incident more likely to occur)
associated with heart attacks can be controlled. Controlling these factors makes a
person less likely to have a heart attack.
a. Major Risk Factors. The four most important factors that predispose to heart
attacks are listed below. All of these factors can be controlled.
(1) Cigarette smoking. A person who smokes more than one pack of
cigarettes a day is twice as likely to have a heart attack than is a nonsmoker.
(2) Elevated (high) blood pressure. A person with a systolic pressure over
150 has more than twice the risk of heart attack (and four times the risk of stroke) than a
person with a systolic pressure under 120. A diastolic pressure over 90 also increases
the risk of heart attack.
MD0532
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