Sudden Cardiac Death in the young can be caused by conditions that can run in families. Clinical testing of first degree relatives of victims of sudden cardiac death can reveal diagnosis in family members in up to 30% of families.ref This conditions can be addressed with medical or device therapies which can prevent sudden death in the family members that are diagnosed. The Mater Heart House Family Screening clinic was established in 2007 and has screened over 1000 Irish families to date.
The Project will involve an analysis of the 1000+ families that have been screened at the Mater Heart House. This project hopes to delineate which conditions are most common causes of sudden death in the Irish population, the yield of clinical screening, the yield and usefulness of genetic testing, changes in demographic trends and referral patterns, and accuracy of diagnostic testing.
