Sudden cardiac death in Nigerians--the Ile-Ife experience

To determine the clinico-pathologic features, circumstances of death and related epidemiological variables in cases of sudden cardiac death among Nigerians.

A review of all cases of medico-legal autopsies performed at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, on cases of sudden unexpected deaths over a ten-year period (1987-1997).

The records of 2,529 medico-legal autopsies were reviewed, of which 79 were found to be cases of sudden cardiac deaths (SCD). The SCD cases consisted of 59 males (74.7%) and 20 females (25.3%), with age ranging from 27 to 80 years. The mean age (and standard deviation) was 53.7 (+11.2) and 52.2 (+10.9) for males and females respectively. A total of 68 cases (86.1%) were brought dead into the hospital and 38 (55.1%) of these were apparently healthy prior to death. The nature of activities associated with SCD, where such was documented, was passive in 90% of cases. Hypertensive heart disease was the cause of death in 66 cases (83.5%), of which only 20 (30.3%) were previously diagnosed. Ischaemic heart disease and cardiomyopathies ranked next as the most common cause of death with 5 cases (6.3%) each.

Hypertensive heart disease is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in Nigerians, and many of hypertensive cases were previously undiagnosed. Cases of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction played significant roles as causes of sudden cardiac death, indicating that their incidence may not be as rare among Nigerians as previously thought.