The consumption of medication is increasing in Sweden. If certain medication increases the risk of sudden death, it is important to carry out a survey of this. A small number of medicines have a documented proarrhythmic effect. These drugs have the potential to induce life-threatening arrhythmias as a direct side effect. The correlation between the prescription of various medicines and the incidence of cardiac arrest is poorly documented.

Over the past six months, more patients who have suffered cardiac arrests out-of-hospital have been prescribed proarrhythmic drugs than a year ago.

The Swedish registry of cardiac arrest out-of-hospital is coordinated with the Swedish national register of pharmaceutical products and the inpatient register. Approximately 8000 cases are calculated to be included in the analysis where the patient serves as their own control.