Sudden Adult Death Syndrome

The number of adults who collapsed and die suddenly without any explanation could be greater than that recorded officially, according to a study conducted by British Heart Foundation (BHF).

This study involved 692 white people aged 16 to 64 years who had no prior cardiac disease, but on whom postmortem examination found either a heart-related or no identifiable cause of death. The researchers found that most died from heart-related causes with 4.1 percent of the cases could not find any cause.

It was estimated that each year, 3,500 apparently healthy adults die suddenly from cardiac or unexplained causes, and for about 150 of these deaths, no cause could be identified. Many of these cases might be due to electrical abnormalities of the heart of which some may be inherited.