Circulation. Arrhythmia and electrophysiology
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Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol · Jul 2019
Refining the World Health Organization Definition: Predicting Autopsy-Defined Sudden Arrhythmic Deaths Among Presumed Sudden Cardiac Deaths in the POST SCD Study.
Conventional definitions of sudden cardiac death (SCD) presume cardiac cause. We studied the World Health Organization-defined SCDs autopsied in the POST SCD study (Postmortem Systematic Investigation of SCD) to determine whether premortem characteristics could identify autopsy-defined sudden arrhythmic death (SAD) among presumed SCDs. ⋯ Our models identify premortem characteristics that can better specify autopsy-defined SAD among presumed SCDs and suggest the World Health Organization definition can be improved by restricting witnessed SCDs to ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation or nonpulseless electrical activity rhythms and unwitnessed cases to <1 hour since last normal, at the cost of sensitivity.