Clinical and genetic yield of familial screening after a sudden unexplained death at a young age

WHAT'S NEW?There is very little research on the effectiveness of screening of families of non-autopsied sudden death victims, even though it is a common clinical situation.In our study on families of young sudden death victims, we established a definite clinical diagnosis in nearly half of the families, and in one fifth of them, a genetic diagnosis was made.Although cardiomyopathies and inherited arrhythmia syndromes were most commonly identified, the study underlies that inherited vasculopathies should also be taken into consideration as a cause of sudden deaths.Of note, the study shows that screening may be beneficial not only in healthy relatives but also in those with other disorders, obscuring identification of cardiac disease.Genetic testing in families without the disease phenotype has little effectiveness.