Prospective Countywide Surveillance and Autopsy Characterization of Sudden Cardiac Death: POST SCD Study

Studies of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death (SCD) use emergency medical services records, death certificates, or definitions that infer cause of death; thus, the true incidence of SCD is unknown. Over 90% of SCDs occur out-of-hospital; nonforensic autopsies are rarely performed, and therefore causes of death are presumed. We conducted a medical examiner-based investigation to determine the precise incidence and autopsy-defined causes of all SCDs in an entire metropolitan area. We hypothesized that postmortem investigation would identify actual sudden arrhythmic deaths among presumed SCDs.

Between February 1, 2011, and March 1, 2014, we prospectively identified all incident deaths attributed to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (emergency medical services primary impression, cardiac arrest) between 18 to 90 years of age in San Francisco County for autopsy, toxicology, and histology via medical examiner surveillance of consecutive out-of-hospital deaths, all reported by law. We obtained comprehensive records to determine whether out-of-hospital cardiac arrest deaths met World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for SCD. We reviewed death certificates filed quarterly for missed SCDs. Autopsy-defined sudden arrhythmic deaths had no extracardiac cause of death or acute heart failure. A multidisciplinary committee adjudicated final cause.

All 20 440 deaths were reviewed; 12 671 were unattended and reported to the medical examiner. From these, we identified 912 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest deaths; 541 (59%) met WHO SCD criteria (mean 62.8 years, 69% male) and 525 (97%) were autopsied. Eighty-nine additional WHO-defined SCDs occurred within 3 weeks of active medical care with the death certificate signed by the attending physician, ineligible for autopsy but included in the countywide WHO-defined SCD incidence of 29.6/100 000 person-years, highest in black men (P<0.0001). Of 525 WHO-defined SCDs, 301 (57%) had no cardiac history. Leading causes of death were coronary disease (32%), occult overdose (13.5%), cardiomyopathy (10%), cardiac hypertrophy (8%), and neurological (5.5%). Autopsy-defined sudden arrhythmic deaths were 55.8% (293/525) of overall, 65% (78/120) of witnessed, and 53% (215/405) of unwitnessed WHO-defined SCDs (P=0.024); 286 of 293 (98%) had structural cardiac disease.

Forty percent of deaths attributed to stated cardiac arrest were not sudden or unexpected, and nearly half of presumed SCDs were not arrhythmic. These findings have implications for the accuracy of SCDs as defined by WHO criteria or emergency medical services records in aggregate mortality data, clinical trials, and cohort studies.