Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) due to ventricular arrhythmias is a major cause of mortality in western populations with up to 450,000 deaths in the United States each year. Although environmental factors clearly contribute to the determinants of SCA, familial aggregation studies and advances in the molecular genetics of inherited arrhythmias suggest that genetic factors confer susceptibility to SCA in the general population. Research in this area typically has focused on association of common genetic variants with intermediate phenotypes that predispose to SCA risk, such as QT interval, but few studies have examined genetic risk factors for SCA. We review the evidence for genetic susceptibility to SCA in the general population and focus on the studies published to date that have explored genetic risk factors.