Sudden death is an unexpected situation, it is related to the loss of function of the heart muscle and can happen in both healthy and sick people. Sudden death can happen within 1 hour after the onset of symptoms, such as dizziness and malaise, for example. This situation is characterized by the sudden stop of the heart, accompanied by a collapse of the blood circulation, due to important changes in the heart, brain or veins.
Sudden death usually occurs due to previously unidentified heart problems, and most cases are due to malignant ventricular arrhythmia that can be present in certain rare diseases or syndromes.
Main causes of sudden death
Sudden death can happen as a consequence of the increase in heart muscle, resulting in arrhythmia, or due to the death of heart muscle cells that end up being replaced by fat cells, even if the person's diet is healthy and balanced. Despite being mainly related to changes in the heart, sudden death can also be related to the brain, lung or veins, as can happen in case of:
- Malignant arrhythmia; Fulminant infarction; Ventricular fibrillation; Pulmonary embolism; Cerebral aneurysm; Embolic or hemorrhagic stroke; Epilepsy; Illicit drug use; During intense physical activity.
Sudden death in athletes is often caused by pre-existing cardiac changes that have not yet been diagnosed at the time of competition. This is a rare condition, which even in high competition teams and with routine examinations are not identified.
The risk of sudden death is greater in people who have systemic arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes and who are smokers, and there is a greater risk in people who have a family history of sudden death. As the cause of death cannot always be established, bodies must always be submitted to autopsy in order to identify what may have triggered this type of death.
Can sudden death be prevented?
The best way to avoid sudden death is to identify the changes that can cause this event early. For this, examinations should be performed regularly, whenever the person has any symptoms of heart problems, such as chest pain, dizziness and excessive tiredness, for example. Check out 12 symptoms that may indicate heart problems.
Young athletes should undergo stress testing, electrocardiogram and echocardiogram, before starting the competition, but this is not a guarantee that the athlete does not have a syndrome that is difficult to diagnose, and that sudden death cannot happen at any time, but fortunately this is a rare event.
Sudden baby death syndrome
Sudden death can affect babies up to 1 year old and happens suddenly and unexpectedly, usually during sleep. Its causes are not always established even when performing an autopsy of the body, but some factors that can lead to this unexpected loss are the fact that the baby sleeps on his stomach, in the same bed as the parents, when the parents smoke or are very young. Find out everything you can do to prevent the baby's sudden death.
