Researchers in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai are one step closer to identifying patients at highest risk for developing sudden cardiac death—an electrical malfunction in the heart that causes it to stop beating.
To identify those at highest risk, researchers used a polygenic risk score that has been previously shown successful in predicting coronary artery disease. This Cedars-Sinai study, however, is the first study proven to be effective at identifying coronary artery disease patients at highest risk for sudden cardiac death.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, shows that patients with coronary artery disease without severely impaired heart function had the highest polygenic risk score, translating to a 77% increased risk for sudden cardiac death.
