Are You or Your Child at Risk for Sudden Death?

Each year in the United States over 250,000 people of all ages will die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. While the reasons that cause sudden cardiac arrest can vary greatly the sad truth is it is an equal opportunity killer in which children, teens, and young adults who are otherwise seemingly healthy may be at risk. Sadly most people under the age of 50 rarely think of their or their child’s risk of sudden cardiac arrest until it is too late. The Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association (HCMA) offers both a print and online version of the “Sudden Cardiac Arrest in the Young Risk Assessment Form” and we hope you complete it and pass it on to someone you care about – because knowledge is power – with early diagnosis conditions that cause sudden cardiac arrest are treatable.

The HCMA offers the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Risk Assessment Form, SCARAF,  This form should be distributed to all school age children and families. 

There are two ways to take the survey - print the attach PDF or take the online version CLICK HERE

This 2- page form has the AHA 12 point items addressed and written in a manner that a parent is more likely to provide as clinically relevant data to a physician.  This document was created with the assistance of Dr. Robert Campbell and the HCMA.  It offers 3 options Yes – No – Unsure. Should the parent/you answers Yes or Unsure to any question they are offered 3 steps to follow:

• 1.       Bring this form to your personal physician and discuss cardiac screening.
• 2.       Seek an evaluation from a cardiac professional including appropriate testing (ECG, echocardiogram and additional if warrented) and consultation.
  
• 3.       Share this information with your family.

 This tool creates a clinical indication for testing should the parent identify a risk factor; therefore, the clinical evaluation and testing should be covered by all major insurance programs in the USA. This tool also has the power to move beyond the child and to the parent as it is far more common to see a death under the age of 54 and over the age of 24, therefore the parents are at a similar risk as the child.