Obesity and other common cardiovascular risk factors may play a greater role in sudden cardiac arrest among younger people than previously recognized, underscoring the importance of earlier screening, a Cedars-Sinai study has found.

While sports activity often garners attention in cases of sudden cardiac arrest in younger patients, it was cited only in a small percentage of those ages 5 to 34 in the study, published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Instead, investigators found an unexpectedly high prevalence of standard cardiovascular risk factors among the young who suffered from sudden cardiac arrest, a disorder that can cause instantaneous death. Combinations of obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking were found in nearly 60 percent of cases studied.

"One of the revelations of this study is that risk factors such as obesity may play a much larger role for the young who die from sudden cardiac arrest than previously known," said Sumeet S. Chugh, MD, associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and lead researcher for the study.

Chugh suggested extending prevention efforts to routine preventive visits for children and young adults.

"The added benefit of such screenings is that early efforts to reduce cardiovascular risk are known to translate into reduction of adult cardiovascular disease," he said.

The findings come from the Oregon Sudden Unexpected Death Study. Chugh headed the comprehensive, 16-hospital, multiyear assessment of cardiac deaths in the Portland metropolitan area, home to 1 million people. Data collected in the study provided Chugh and his team with unique, community-based information to mine for answers to what causes sudden cardiac arrest.

The study was funded in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.