With the aim to ascertain the long‐term incidence and influence of cardiovascular events before sudden death among stabilized patients after acute coronary syndrome (ACS), researchers herein studied a total of 18,144 patients stabilized within 10 days after ACS in IMPROVE‐IT (Improved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial).

• During follow‐up, risk of sudden death remains high for stable patients with ACS with a cumulative incidence of 2.47%, with > 70% of sudden deaths occurring late (> 1 year) following ACS.

• After a first post-randomization cardiovascular event, particularly myocardial infarction or hospitalization for heart failure, sudden death was 5 times more frequent in the stabilized patients after acute coronary syndrome.

• The average time interval of nearly 1.5 years was observed from a post-randomization cardiovascular event to sudden death.