Sudden Adult Death Syndrome ???

[Guest guest]

> KD Weber wrote:

>

> ED NOTE: Yes, it's from air particulates ....

>

> Sudden, Unexplained Death

> May Kill Many Adults

> By Richard Woodman

> http://www.rense.com/general36/maykill.htm

> 3-28-3

>

> LONDON (Reuters Health) - Many apparently healthy adults may be dying

> unexpectedly in a grown-up version of the " cot death " phenomenon,

> British researchers said on Friday.

> The British Heart Foundation said a study showed that the number of

> adults who collapse and die suddenly without explanation could be " much

> greater than is recorded in official statistics. "

> Like sudden infant death syndrome, such deaths should be labeled

> " sudden adult death syndrome, " said Dr. Tim Bowker, the charity's

> associate medical director and lead researcher of the study.

> The study, published in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine, examined the

> frequency of sudden unexpected cardiac or unexplained death in a sample

> of cases investigated by coroners in England during the 1990s.

> The study included white people aged 16 to 64 years who had no history

> of cardiac disease on whom autopsy found either a cardiac or no

> identifiable cause of death.

> Most of the 692 people investigated died from heart-related causes. But

> in 4.1 percent of the cases, no cause could be found despite a full

> post-mortem examination.

> " It has long been recognized that there are occasions when an

> apparently previously healthy adult dies suddenly and unexpectedly and

> any abnormalities found at post-mortem are minimal or non-existent, "

> Bowker said in a statement.

> " In such cases it can be very difficult to identify a precise cause of

> death. This leads us to question whether these deaths are rare or

> represent the tip of a larger iceberg, " he said.

> " If the condition is more frequent than we suspect -- particularly if

> across the country pathologists and coroners are using different words

> to describe the cause of death -- we need to give the condition a

> 'name' to help us gain a greater understanding of the scale of the

> problem, " Bowker said.

> Bowker added, " Not until it is accepted practice to identify all these

> unexplained deaths and to label them as such will it become possible to

> study them systematically, identify their causes and find ways of

> preventing them from occurring. "

> The charity said experience with " cot deaths " indicated that this

> approach could have a major impact.

> " Once cot death became officially labeled as the 'sudden infant death

> syndrome,' it was possible to collect and collate the relevant data,

> identify possible causes and take steps to protect infants from such

> tragedies, resulting in a 70 percent fall in the number of deaths over

> a period of 10 years. "

> The new study estimates that in England, 3,500 apparently healthy

> adults die suddenly from cardiac or unexplained causes each year. In

> about 150 of these deaths, no cause can be identified.

> The charity said many of these deaths might be due to electrical

> abnormalities of the heart, some of which are inherited. It pointed out

> that electrical measurements of the heart can only be made when a

> person is alive.

> " Because the 'alarm bells' only start ringing after the death of a

> seemingly well adult, we hope our new findings will encourage people to

> look back into their family's medical history and to think about

> whether any close relatives may have died young from unexplained

> causes, " said the charity's medical director, Professor Sir Charles

> George.

> SOURCE: Quarterly Journal of Medicine 2003;96:269-279.

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