Cardiac Causes of sudden Natural Death in Adults Autopsied in a tertiary Level Hospital within a one Year Period-A Cross sectional study

Sudden deaths are mostly natural deaths which occur immediately or within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms which may be totally different from the symptoms which the patient was having so long. Cardiac disorders constitute the most common causes of sudden natural death and incidence is from 45–50% to 90%. There are only a few published studies available in Kerala state with reference to the causes and associated changes in the heart. In the present study, an attempt is made to describe different cardiac causes of death in cases with history of sudden natural death and the socio demographic profile of these cases.

To study the cardiac causes of death in cases with history of sudden death brought for autopsy and to describe the socio demographic profile of the above cases.

All cases with history suggestive of sudden and unexpected death brought for autopsy at Govt. Medical college, Thiruvananthapuram during the period of one year from August 2009 to July 2010 were selected for this cross-sectional study.

The maximum number of cases were in the age group of 40 to 60 years (55.8%) and had a male predominance. Majority of the cases (39.5%) were manual labourers. The most common cause of death was occlusive coronary artery disease (76.7%), followed by myocarditis (4.2%), non-atheromatous disease of coronary arteries (3.4%), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (1.7%), right ventricular fibro fatty dysplasia (1.7%), infective endocarditis (1.7%) and valvular heart disease (0.8%). In 8.3% of cases, no definite opinion as to the cause of death could be furnished.

Further detailed studies are suggested.