Cumulative effects of common genetic variants on risk of sudden cardiac death.

Background: Genome-wide association studies and candidate-gene based approaches have identified multiple common variants associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). However, the independent contribution of these individual loci to disease risk is modest.

Objective: To investigate the cumulative effects of genetic variants previously associated with SCD risk.

Novel loci associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death in the context of coronary artery disease.

Background: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified novel loci associated with sudden cardiac death (SCD). Despite this progress, identified DNA variants account for a relatively small portion of overall SCD risk, suggesting that additional loci contributing to SCD susceptibility await discovery. The objective of this study was to identify novel DNA variation associated with SCD in the context of coronary artery disease (CAD).

A common missense variant in the neuregulin 1 gene is associated with both schizophrenia and sudden cardiac death.

Background: Both schizophrenia and epilepsy have been linked to increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). We hypothesized that DNA variants within genes previously associated with schizophrenia and epilepsy may contribute to an increased risk of SCD.

Objective: To investigate the contribution to SCD susceptibility of DNA variants previously implicated in schizophrenia and epilepsy.

Survival advantage from ventricular fibrillation and pulseless electrical activity in women compared to men: the Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study.

Objective: Studies evaluating a possible survival advantage from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in women have produced mixed results possibly due to a lack of comprehensive analyses. We hypothesized that race, socioeconomic status (SES), and elements of the lifetime clinical history influence gender effects and need to be incorporated within analyses of survival.

Methods: Cases of SCA were identified from the ongoing, prospective, multiple-source Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study (population approximately one million).