A world-first sudden cardiac death registry

Dr Elizabeth Paratz, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

2023 Vanguard Grant - Two Year

Years funded: 2024 - 2025

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) affects 20,000 Australians per year but is under-appreciated as a critical public health issue as 90% of deaths occur pre-hospital and are managed by ambulance and forensic services. Identifying strategies to reduce the burden of SCD has been described as the 'philosopher's stone of modern cardiology.'

The COmprehensive Database to EXamine Sudden Death (CODEX-SD Registry) is a linkage of twenty years of data from two large data sources, the Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry and the National Coronial Information Services. Both these services maintain data on all cases managed for the last twenty years, but not in a digitally compatible format. The CODEX-SD Registry will be a world-first cohort registry in both its size (>100,000 cases) and its inclusion of a control arm of trauma-related deaths. It will provide the world's first true comprehensive case capture of all cases managed state-wide with complete case adjudication of all cases of SCD. This will provide a substantive resource to investigate virtually any cardiac research question.

The registry is highly feasible, with Dr Paratz having a track record in building and utilising sudden cardiac death epidemiology data. All associated investigators have an excellent track record in collaborative work on the topic of sudden cardiac death.

Benefits anticipated from the creation of the CODEX-SD Registry are an unparalleled resource for defining the burden of cardiac diseases, the opportunity for detailed analysis of rare conditions (including those primarily affecting disadvantaged Australians), and the creation of the first cardiac arrest dataset in the world with a control cohort.