A cardiac arrest and a heart attack: what's the difference? [news]

What happened to Fabrice Muamba is very different to what happens to older and unfit people Fabrice Muamba: had a cardiac arrest, not a heart attack. Fabrice Muamba's cardiac arrest on the football pitch has become the most visible example of a shocking statistic: at least 12 young people die suddenly every week in the UK because of abnormalities of the heart. Like Muamba, many of these tragedies strike during exercise. Phidippides, the Greek messenger who inspired the modern marathon and collapsed after running well over 100 miles in two days, may be the earliest recorded incident of the shocking death of an athlete. But until recently many cardiac arrest fatalities were classified as "natural causes" rather than attributed to a recognisable condition – sudden death syndrome (SDS).