Sudden Heart Death Family Link Found

Men who lose a parent to sudden cardiac death are twice as likely as other men to meet the same fate, a new study found. And men whose parents both die from sudden heart death face a ninefold risk of dying the same way, researchers said. The study, believed to be first showing that sudden cardiac death runs in families and published today in the medical journal Circulation, could help identify unsuspecting people at high risk for the condition. More than 481,000 heart attacks occur each year, and more than half of those--250,000--are sudden deaths, which occur within an hour of the onset of symptoms.