SCA Facts and Statistics   |   SCA Risk Factors and Prevention   |   SCA Survivors  |   Resources

Each year, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)—an abrupt loss of heart function caused by a rapid disturbance in the heart’s natural rhythm—claims the lives of more than 5,768 Iowans, or approximately 16 lives per day.

SCA can happen to anyone, but some people are at greater risk—including heart attack survivors, people who have heart failure, those who have survived a past episode of SCA or have a family history of SCA and people with a low ejection fraction (a measurement of the heart’s pumping ability).