[Sudden deaths among male employees: a six-year epidemiological survey]

To elucidate the circumstances involving sudden death, deaths among 20,685 male employees of "K" company during a six-year period from April 1981 to March 1987 were reviewed. The subject age ranged from 19 through 59 years, and averaged 38.6 years. Information concerning each death was obtained from the death reports prepared by officials of the Safety and Health Division of the Labor Affairs Department of this company, based on the death certificate and interviews with questionnaires to the deceased's family, colleagues, and attending physicians. In this study, "sudden death" was defined as the death of a full-time employee who had been capable of performing ordinary work and who died within 24 hours after the onset of a sudden disease. When the cause of death could not be determined, the cause was categorized as unknown. A total of 233 employees died during the six-year period. The causes were malignant tumors in 107 (45.9%), heart diseases (including all of the sudden deaths from "unknown cause") in 41 (17.6%), cerebral vascular accidents in 20 (8.6%) and other causes in 64. "Sudden death" occurred in 39 employees. This accounted for 12 to 33% (17% average) of the total deaths. The mortality of sudden death by age group (adjusted to the annual deaths per 100,000 persons) was six in the age of 30-34 years, 20 for 35-39 years, 22 for 40-44 years, 54 for 45-49 years, 51 for 50-54 years and 107 for 55-59 years, an average of 33. In seven sudden death cases, the last medical examinations before death indicated "no abnormalities".(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)