Coronary Atherosclerosis as a Cause of Unexpected and Unexplained Death

The frequency of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease as a cause of sudden unexplained and unexpected death in adults was determined in a series of 1,329 consecutive autopsies. "Sudden deaths" were divided into three categories according to the duration of the fatal episode: less than one hour, between one and three hours, and undetermined (unwitnessed). In the acute episodes lasting less than one hour 422 of 463 adult white males and 32 of 66 white females died from coronary atherosclerotic heart disease. In the unwitnessed fatalities and where the episodes were over one hour, coronary atherosclerosis was the cause of death in less than 60%. Cerebral hemorrhage as a cause of sudden death was similarly studied. There were only 14 cases of cerebral hemorrhage of 584 witnessed sudden deaths.