By Jimmy Downs

Sunday Oct 7, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in PLos One suggests that epilepsy can be a predictor for sudden cardiac arrest or having epilepsy is a risk factor for sudden cardiac arrest.

Abdennasser Bardai at University College London Institute of Neurology in London, United Kingdom and colleagues conducted the study and found having epilepsy tripled the risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

The researchers set out to conduct the study to examine whether epilepsy is linked with risk of sudden cardiac arrest because it is known that people with epilepsy are more likely than other to experience sudden death and sudden death is the most outcome of sudden cardiac arrest in the general population due to ventricular fibrillation.

The case -control study was based on data from 1019 cases of sudden cardiac arrest with ECG-documented VF and 2834 controls enrolled from the Amsterdam Resuscitation Studies (ARREST) in the Netherlands.

The study found epilepsy was correlated with a three-fold increased risk for sudden cardiac arrest. The risk for sudden cardiac arrest in patients with epilepsy was particularly higher in young and females.

The researchers concluded "Epilepsy in the general population seems to be associated with an increased risk for SCA (sudden cardiac arrest)."