SCD in older individuals mostly occurs in the setting of sequela of coronary artery disease (CAD), namely, during acute myocardial infarction (MI) or in the setting of the cardiomyopathy and heart failure that may follow a MI. Here, although the genetic architecture of susceptibility is unknown, as for other complex phenotypes, genetic susceptibility to SCD in the individual patient is likely governed by the inheritance of a broad spectrum of genetic variants that occur at different frequencies in the general population and that carry different effect sizes on risk. In recent years, a number of research groups have started investigating the role of common genetic variants (typically defined as variants displaying a minor-allele frequency 45% in the general population) in SCD susceptibility in the setting of acquired cardiac disease. This has been done both by means of