The Saudi Heart Rhythm Society is holding its annual Heart Rhythm Week, from Sept. 12-19. This year’s theme “Your Heart in Your Hands” focuses on patient empowerment and aims to encourage members of the public to recognize symptoms of heart rhythm disorders and seek adequate advice from health care professionals.
The “Your Heart in Your Hands” Checklist is designed to educate the public and support clinicians in identifying these deadly conditions. The Saudi Heart Rhythm Society is calling for anyone experiencing palpitations, loss of consciousness/fainting, unexplained slips and falls, or has family history of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) to complete the Checklist provided at hospital waiting areas across Saudi Arabia to aid discussion with their Electro-physiologist as they seek further advice.
Heart rhythm disorders result from abnormal electrical activity in the heart. Cardiac arrhythmias can occur at any age and are the leading cause of death affecting millions of people around the world.
Studies have shown more than 250,000 deaths occur each year as a result of SCAs. In fact, SCAs claims one life every two minutes, taking more lives each year than breast cancer, lung cancer, or AIDS.
SCA is usually reversible if treated within minutes, but the only effective treatment is the delivery of an electrical shock, either with an automated external defibrillator, or with an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD). ICDs have been proven to be 98 percent effective in treating dangerously fast ventricular arrhythmias that can lead to SCAs. An ICD is an electronic device that constantly monitors the heart rhythm.
When it detects a very fast, abnormal heart rhythm, it delivers energy to the heart muscle. This causes the heart to beat in a normal rhythm again. In Saudi Arabia, it is estimated that 800 ICD implants are performed every year, which means 30 implants per million — considering a 27 million Saudi population.
Compared to USA figures, it falls deep below the 600 ICD implants per million.