OBJECTIVETo explore the incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD) of urban residents in Beijing.

METHODSA community based epidemiology survey was performed on the residents of 4 communities in the Xicheng and Haidian districts in Beijing from October 2008 to September 2009. Data on the total population, age, gender and vital status were monitored, and incidence of SCD as well as related information were collected from the household administrative workers, the family members of the deceased, the hospital personnel and the witnesses.

RESULTS479 521 subjects (244 000 men and 235 521 women) were monitored, a total of 1 285 (642 men and 643 women) all cause death occurred during the study period and 184 (86 men and 98 women) deaths were identified as SCD. The incidence of SCD was 35.2 (95%CI 27.8-42.7) per 100 000 per year for men and 41.6 (95%CI 33.4-49.8) per 100 000 per year for women. SCD accounted for 13.4% mortality in men and 15.2% mortality in women. There were 171 (91.0%) SCD cases in residents over 55 years of age. The incidence of SCD for the age group 0-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74 and 75 years and over was 5.6, 4.6, 3.0, 9.8, 78.4, 88.4, and 272.8 per 100 000 per year for men, and 1.6, 0, 3.2, 0, 21.1, 84.2 and 470.0 per 100 000 per year for women, respectively. The proportion of the cases that have at least one cardiovascular disease history was 57.0% (49/86) for men and 60.2% (59/98) for women. The cases that occurred at home, on the way to hospital, in the hospital emergency room, in the hospital ward and other places account for 53.3% (98 cases), 12.2% (22 cases), 9.2% (17 cases), 12.5% (23 cases) and 13.0% (24 cases) of the 184 SCD cases, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSCD is a great threat to the urban residents in Beijing. Most SCD cases occurred at home on residents over 55 years of age. More than half SCD residents have at least one cardiovascular disease. It is important to take preventive measures in the urban residents over 55 years old and with history of cardiovascular disease.