Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the most frightening medical events that can happen.
It’s when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood, causing a person to collapse, lose consciousness, and stop breathing.
If help doesn’t come quickly, it can lead to death within minutes. Because it often strikes without warning, it is very hard to prevent.
In Europe, sudden cardiac arrest causes about half of all deaths related to heart problems and about one in five natural deaths overall. That’s why scientists are always looking for better ways to understand and prevent it.
Normally, doctors try to reduce heart risks by treating conditions like high blood pressure. One popular medicine for this is called nifedipine. It works by relaxing blood vessels so blood can flow more easily, which lowers the pressure.
Think of it like reducing the pressure in a hose to prevent it from bursting. This helps lower the chance of heart attacks and strokes. Another drug called amlodipine works in a similar way.
Recently, a European research group studied whether these drugs might be linked to sudden cardiac arrest. They looked at large groups of people in both the Netherlands and Denmark.
The first group included over 2,500 people who had experienced sudden cardiac arrest. These people were compared to more than 10,000 healthy people in a national database.
The researchers noticed that people who took a high dose of nifedipine—60 milligrams a day—seemed to have a greater risk of sudden cardiac arrest. However, they didn’t find this risk in people who were taking amlodipine.
To double-check their findings, they looked at another group of more than 8,000 patients and over 40,000 healthy people in Denmark. Once again, they found the same pattern: people on high doses of nifedipine had a higher chance of sudden cardiac arrest.
This was surprising, because nifedipine and amlodipine have been used for many years, and they are trusted by doctors around the world. Earlier studies had not shown this risk, probably because sudden cardiac arrest happens so fast and is hard to study in large groups.
The scientists who led the study say that this doesn’t mean everyone should stop using nifedipine right away. Instead, it’s a sign that doctors and patients should be more careful, especially with high doses. They also say that more studies are needed to confirm the findings and see if medical guidelines should be updated.
This new information shows why ongoing research is so important, even for medicines that have been around for a long time. Some risks may not be obvious until we look closely at how drugs affect large numbers of people over time.
If you or someone you know takes nifedipine, it’s a good idea to talk to a doctor. Don’t make any changes without medical advice. The goal is always to find the safest and most effective treatment for each person.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that Changing blood pressure readings is a hidden sign of heart disease and common type 2 diabetes drugs may raise heart risk.
For more about heart health, please read studies about root cause of heart rhythm disorders and Warning signal from the kidneys can predict future heart failure risk.
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