Abstract
Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is death due to cardiovascular reasons in an individual with or free from foregoing cardiac disease. Objective: To explore the public awareness concerning the reasons, risk factors, and management of sudden cardiac arrest (SC) in Arar city, Northern Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was assumed. The study was conducted on the general population of Arar city, Saudi Arabia in the period from 15 January to 30 June 2021. Data was collected by using an online predesigned self-administered questionnaire distributed via social media network. Results: Most of the participants (90.8%) had heard of sudden cardiac arrest, 78.3% reported that any age group can suffer from sudden cardiac arrest, 41.9% think that life style and dietary habits may predispose to sudden cardiac arrest and the majority 84.8% agreed that there is a difference between sudden cardiac arrest and heart attack. Regarding the symptoms; 55.1% reported chest tightness followed by 51.2% reported chest pain, 47.8% palpitations and 38.5% decreased conscious. About the cause of SCD, 35% of them thought its cardiomyopathies and 11.8% thought its congenital heart diseases. Regarding the CPR; 63.3% had heard of PCR but only 27.4% had ability to perform it skillfully, 49.5% stated that they should carry out CPR before calling emergency and 42.8% reported that they would call emergency before performing CPR. About the barriers to performing CPR; 45.4% reported feeling unconfident of their CPR skills and 13.6% reported fear of legal responsibility. There was no familiarity with the term "AED" that only 15.7% of the participants had heard of automated external defibrillator (AED) and only 7.2% of them knew that AED packages is available in public places of the city. Conclusion: In our study, most of the Arar population have heard about SCA and knew that SCA and heart attacks are two different conditions but only about quarter of them can perform CPR skillfully.