The study demonstrates that sudden death in HCM is not confined to young patients but extends into later life, challenging previous epidemiological assumptions derived from highly selected populations.
HCM-related cardiovascular death occurred suddenly, or as a result of heart failure or stroke, largely during different phases of life in a prospectively assembled, regionally based, and predominantly unselected patient cohort. Although most sudden deaths occurred in adolescents and young adults, such catastrophes were not confined to patients of these ages and extended to later phases of life. This revised clinical profile suggests that generally held epidemiological tenants for HCM have been influenced considerably by skewed reporting from highly selected populations. These data are likely to importantly affect risk stratification and treatment strategies importantly for the prevention of sudden death in HCM.
Maron et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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