[Acute natural death in adults with special reference to the under-50 age group]

The cases of acute natural death of persons in the age group below 50 years were analysed in relation to the whole number of autopsies performed in the district of Leipzig (German Democratic Republic) in 1980. From a total of 137 cases, 103 (75.2%) were males and 34 (24.8%) females. The incidence per 100,000 inhabitants was 14.8 in males and 4.9 in females. The most common cause of death in the male group was the chronic ischemic heart disease ( CIHD ) with its complications. In females the noncoronarogenic death dominated. In contrast to other publications, we found only few thromboses (11%). Especially high was the number of embolia of the lung and the frequency of ruptured cerebral aneurysms in females. Of special interest are high physical activity in sports in combination with CIHD , anomalies of the coronary arteries, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which often causes sudden unexpected death. The results are discussed and other rare causes of acute death summarized. It seems from the literature also important to investigate histologically the heart muscle in all cases of unknown causes of acute death.