In the recent month, the frequent news of sudden death has caused a lot of discussion.
The increasing pressure of work and the fast pace of life have made sudden death a health anxiety for many people.
The 2020 National Health Insight Report shows that 53% of people worry about sudden death, and 7% and 9% of the young post-95s and post-00s worry about sudden death often or even every day, and these people are only in their twenties this year.
What is the current situation of sudden death in China? Who does it tend to find? What can be done to avoid tragedy?
Sudden cardiac death happens to one person every minute
Sudden death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the sudden death of a patient who is or appears to be in good health and who dies suddenly from a natural disease within a short and unexpected period of time. [2]
Clinically, sudden death generally refers to death that occurs suddenly, primarily as a result of sudden cardiac arrest.
The causes of sudden death are complex, but most of them are related to Cardiovascular diseases.
In 2019, there were about 10.65 million deaths due to various diseases in China, among which about 4.58 million deaths were due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD), accounting for 43% of the total deaths, which is the number one health killer of Chinese people.
The high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and the high percentage of deaths behind it means that sudden death is not far from us.
According to the data published in China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2019, it is estimated that 544,000 cases of sudden cardiac death (SCD) will occur in China every year, and about every minute, one person falls down with sudden death.
And this situation continues to worsen.
The risk of sudden death in young people is rising
Over the past 30 years, the overall cardiovascular disease mortality rate in China has shown a rapid upward trend. From 205 per 100,000 in 1990 to 322 per 100,000 in 2019, the death rate per 100,000 is 1.6 times higher than it was 30 years ago.
Among the many causes of sudden death, the two most common are: sudden cardiac death and sudden cerebral death.
Ischemic heart disease, mentioned above, is the main cause of sudden cardiac death, and you must know it by another name – “coronary heart disease”. Ischemic stroke, the second leading cause of death among cardiovascular diseases, is also known as “cerebral infarction” and is one of the causes of sudden death of cerebral origin.
Over the past 30 years, the death rate from coronary heart disease (ischemic heart disease) has increased by 142%, and this disease alone is responsible for approximately the same number of deaths as the top five cancers in the country combined*.
(*In 2019, the top five cancers in terms of deaths: lung cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, and liver cancer)
Behind the rapid increase in mortality, age, is a very critical factor.
Both coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke are closely related to age, and the death rate climbs with age.
On the whole, young people are indeed healthier, and the number of deaths due to cardiovascular disease is not high, but an analysis of the data by age group shows that
Over the last two decades, there has been a more pronounced increase in the proportion of deaths among younger people.
Such changes are closely related to our various active or passive unhealthy lifestyle habits.
The risk of sudden death hidden around
What factors make us more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease? And who are the people who are more likely to die suddenly?
➊ Bad habits are the risk factors for sudden death
-Smoking.
-drinking alcohol.
-obesity.
-Unhealthy diet.
Tobacco smoke contains a lot of substances that are harmful to the lungs, blood vessels and heart.
China has always been a major tobacco country. Data show that the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above is 26.6%, with the rate among young people aged 15 to 24 increasing year by year. And non-smokers also suffer from secondhand smoke, with an exposure rate of 68.1%. [5]
In addition, obesity, especially abdominal obesity*, is also a high risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
(*Abdominal obesity: waist circumference ≥ 90 cm in men and ≥ 85 cm in women, with a detection rate of 29.1% among adult Chinese residents from 2012 to 2015)
The Report on the Status of Nutrition and Chronic Diseases of the Chinese Population (2020) shows that 50% of Chinese adults have overweight and obesity problems, and even nearly 20% of children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 are overweight.
Sedentary, greasy take-out, heavy snacks …… these bad habits are the hidden risk of sudden death.
➋ Metabolic-related diseases, which are the basis of sudden death
-increased blood pressure (hypertension)
-hyperglycemia (diabetes mellitus)
-hyperlipidemia (hyperlipidemia).
Many common chronic diseases, such as hypertension and hyperglycemia, are important risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke.
These “diseases of the elderly” are not only increasing in number, but also getting younger.
In the case of hypertension, for example, data from 2004 showed that the age of onset was 10 years earlier than in the 1950s, with a prevalence rate of 74% for men and 62% for women between the ages of 35 and 44. 12]
➌ Overexertion brings sudden death one step closer
Chronic sleep deprivation not only increases the risk of sudden death due to cardiovascular disease, but also raises the risk of accidents due to reduced cognitive function.
Surveys show that about 80% of white-collar workers in China are in a state of excessive fatigue. Chronic fatigue stress, which is the cause of both early onset of coronary heart disease in young and middle-aged people, is also an important cause of sudden cardiac death in young and middle-aged patients with coronary heart disease, accounting for 65% to 80% of cases of sudden cardiac death. [7]
Why do young people who look healthy suddenly die suddenly?
Because it only “looks healthy”.
Many young and middle-aged people who die suddenly actually have coronary heart disease, but usually have no symptoms and do not have targeted examinations. Then add overwork, stress stimulation, etc., and eventually lead to the tragedy of sudden cardiac death.
Those days when we sleep late because of overtime, swallowed cigarettes and alcohol because of anxiety, neglected heartburn because of busy work, and no exercise because we don’t want to move for a moment …… these insignificant little things, will be tired of us a little to the abyss of sudden death.
If you have ever worried about your health, if you are already aware of the problem, you may want to set yourself some small goals.
To sleep ten minutes earlier today.
Eating more vegetables tomorrow.
Challenge yourself not to drink sweet drinks in January.
To stand up and move around for half an hour at work.
Go for a comprehensive medical check-up once a year.
……
The tragedy of sudden death should not be repeated over and over again. These small health goals are the first step to self-help.
Change, start today.
Extended reading.
@LotusPepper
Pound for pound this matter, from another perspective to talk about.
The symptoms are mainly chest pain, chest tightness, and panic. From the patient’s point of view, it means “I have this needle-like pain in my front chest”, “I have this tightness in my front chest”, “I can’t get air”, “my chest is tight”, “my heart is beating uncomfortably”, “my chest feels like a plate is pressing”, “I’m pumping with panic”, etc. Whether locally or in Beijing where I used to study, I can see many of them.
Most of such patients are not examined for organic problems, because there are some cardiac causes of sudden death, such as non-atherosclerotic coronary problems, malignant arrhythmias, which only happen for a short time and cannot be examined without an attack when seeing a doctor, the former such as coronary artery spasm, spasm will lead to angina, heavy will be heart attack, sudden death; there are many is physical discomfort, such as strain, long working hours, the body does not get good rest, this part of the person may be physically unwell for a period of time, if you do not get rest for a long time, or continue to work under high pressure, the probability of the occurrence of the aforementioned and latter causes of sudden death will be increasing.
Even though, as mentioned above, it is still necessary to go to the hospital for examination, because there are some problems that can be detected and treated, such as arrhythmia of certain duration, precordial disease, cardiomyopathy (dilated heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy), cardiac tumors (most common mucinous tumors), coronary heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, massive pericardial effusion, pulmonary embolism, etc.
When I was studying in Beijing, I remember a case of a girl 20+ years old, who came to the clinic with heart panic, the examination was atrial flutter, the arrhythmia might have been there for some time, the heart was big, radiofrequency ablation was done to treat the atrial flutter, the heart returned to normal size in less than a week after the operation, achieving a very good treatment effect.
Keep a moderate work intensity and pay attention to rest to ensure the health of the body, with discomfort, to seek timely medical attention.
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