SCA Facts and Statistics
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the sudden, unexpected loss of heart function, breathing, and consciousness. It usually results from an electrical disturbance in the heart. Anyone at any time, from young, healthy athletes to people with known heart disease, can die from SCA. The victim may or may not have known heart disease.
Statistics —
- Each year in the United States, there are over 450,000 Sudden Cardiac Arrests (source: Centers for Disease Control, 1999). That means 1 SCA for every 657 people.
- The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association estimates that 1 American dies every 2 minutes from SCA.
- Nationally, 95% of SCA victims do not survive.
- Survival of SCA victims declines approximately 10% for each minute without defibrillation.
- The population of Carroll, Harrison, and Tuscarawas counties is 155,000 people. Using the above ratio, that equates to 236 SCA victims per year in the tri-county area.
- With the national survival rate of 5%, that means 12 survivors a year in Carroll, Harrison, and Tuscarawas counties.
- By distributing large numbers of AEDs into the tri-county area, we hope to increase the survival rate from 5% to 25%, meaning 59 survivors per year in the three counties.
