Abstract
Aims
A retrospective post-mortem analysis was undertaken to determine the aetiology of sudden cardiac death (SCD) amongst individuals aged ≤35 years who died in Ireland in 2005.
Methods and results
The Central Statistics Office registered 122 deaths amongst those aged ≤35 that were possibly due to a cardiac cause based on the ICD-9 classification system. Fifty three cases were excluded because no post-mortem was performed (n = 29), reports were insufficient or unavailable (n = 10), because death was non-cardiac (n = 12) or occurred following a medical procedure (n = 2). Victims were predominantly male. The commonest finding at autopsy in those <14 years of age was a structurally normal heart in 20/27 subjects (74%) and in those aged 14–35 years was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or left ventricular hypertrophy in 17/42 subjects (40.5%).
Conclusion
The national incidence of SCD was 5.59 males and 0.78 females (3.18 overall) per 100,000 males and females aged 14–35, respectively, in 2005.
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Acknowledgments
The assistance of Irish Pathologists and Coroners in the provision of post-mortem results for this study is gratefully acknowledged. Support for Dr. Morris by an unrestricted educational grant from Merck is gratefully acknowledged.
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Morris, V.B., Keelan, T., Leen, E. et al. Sudden cardiac death in the young: a 1-year post-mortem analysis in the Republic of Ireland. Ir J Med Sci 178, 257–261 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-009-0294-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-009-0294-8