Death, Sudden: From 2 Different Sources
Unexpected death in a person who previously seemed to be healthy. The most common cause in adults is cardiac arrest. Cardiomyopathy may cause sudden death at any age, and its presence may have been unsuspected. Sudden death may also occur as a result of stroke or in people with unsuspected myocarditis, or pneumonia. Less common causes of a sudden death include anaphylactic shock, a severe attack of asthma, and suicide.
In infants, death without warning is called sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or cot death. Cases of sudden death at any age must be reported to the coroner, who decides whether there should be an autopsy.
If deaths from accidents are excluded, this term means the unexpected death of an apparently healthy person. CARDIAC ARREST is the most common cause of sudden death. Older people (35 years or above) who suffer cardiac arrest commonly have coronary artery disease (see HEART, DISEASES OF) with restriction or stoppage of blood supply to part of the heart which causes INFARCTION (heart attack). Irregularity of the heartbeat (cardiac ARRHYTHMIA) is another cause. MYOCARDITIS, PNEUMONIA and STROKE can also result in sudden death, as can ASTHMA, anaphylactic shock (see ANAPHYLAXIS), ruptured aortic ANEURYSM and SUICIDE, the incidence of which is rising, especially among young people, and is over 4,000 a year in the UK.
Sudden death sometimes occurs in infants, usually in the ?rst year of life: this is called SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS) or, colloquially, cot death, the possible causes of which are an ongoing subject for research and debate.
When a person dies unexpectedly the event must be reported to a CORONER, who has the power to decide whether an AUTOPSY is necessary.
An old name for PLAGUE.... black death
See SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS).... cot death
The proportion of deaths in a specified population. The death rate is calculated by dividing the number of deaths in a population in a year by the midyear resident population. Death rates are often expressed as the number of deaths per 100 000 persons. The rate may be restricted to deaths in specific age, race, sex, or geographic groups or deaths from specific causes of death (specific rate), or it may be related to the entire population (crude rate).... death rate
The irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain, including the brainstem. (See also death.)... brain death
For the purpose of national mortality statistics, every death is attributed to one underlying condition, based on information reported on the death certificate and using the international rules for selecting the underlying cause of death from the reported conditions. See “International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, tenth revision (ICD-10)”.... cause of death
Cause-of-death ranking for adults is based on the List of 72 Selected Causes of Death, HIV Infection, and Alzheimer’s Disease. The List was adapted from one of the special lists for mortality tabulations recommended for use with the International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision. Two group titles – “Major cardiovascular diseases” and “Symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions” – are not ranked based on the list of 72 selected causes. In addition, category titles that begin with the words “other” and “all other” are not ranked. The remaining category titles are ranked according to number of deaths to determine the leading causes of death. When one of the titles that represents a subtotal is ranked (for example, unintentional injuries), its component parts are not ranked (in this case, motor vehicle crashes and all other unintentional injuries).... cause-of-death ranking
A certi?cate required by law to be signed by a medical practitioner stating the main and any contributary causes of a person’s death.... death certificate
See sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).... death, sudden infant
See death, sudden.... sudden death
see perinatal mortality rate.... early neonatal death
There are some minor signs, such as: relaxation of the facial muscles (which produces the staring eye and gaping mouth of the ‘Hippocratic countenance’), as well as a loss of the curves of the back, which becomes ?at by contact with the bed or table; discoloration of the skin, which takes on a wax-yellow hue and loses its pink transparency at the ?nger-webs; absence of blistering and redness if the skin is burned (Christison’s sign); and failure of a ligature tied round the ?nger to produce, after its removal, the usual change of a white ring, which, after a few seconds, becomes redder than the surrounding skin in a living person.
The only certain sign of death, however, is that the heart has stopped beating. To ensure that this is permanent, it is necessary to listen over the heart with a stethoscope, or directly with the ear, for at least ?ve minutes. Permanent stoppage of breathing should also be con?rmed by observing that a mirror held before the mouth shows no haze, or that a feather placed on the upper lip does not ?utter.
In the vast majority of cases there is no dif?culty in ensuring that death has occurred. The introduction of organ transplantation, however, and of more e?ective mechanical means of resuscitation, such as ventilators, whereby an individual’s heart can be kept beating almost inde?nitely, has raised diffculties in a minority of cases. To solve the problem in these cases the concept of ‘brain death’ has been introduced. In this context it has to be borne in mind that there is no legal de?nition of death. Death has traditionally been diagnosed by the irreversible cessation of respiration and heartbeat. In the Code of Practice drawn up in 1983 by a Working Party of the Health Departments of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, however, it is stated that ‘death can also be diagnosed by the irreversible cessation of brain-stem function’. This is described as ‘brain death’. The brain stem consists of the mid-brain, pons and medulla oblongata which contain the centres controlling the vital processes of the body such as consciousness, breathing and the beating of the heart (see BRAIN). This new concept of death, which has been widely accepted in medical and legal circles throughout the world, means that it is now legitimate to equate brain death with death; that the essential component of brain death is death of the brain stem; and that a dead brain stem can be reliably diagnosed at the bedside. (See GLASGOW COMA SCALE.)
Four points are important in determining the time that has elapsed since death. HYPOSTASIS, or congestion, begins to appear as livid spots on the back, often mistaken for bruises, three hours or more after death. This is due to the blood running into the vessels in the lowest parts. Loss of heat begins at once after death, and the body has become as cold as the surrounding air after 12 hours – although this is delayed by hot weather, death from ASPHYXIA, and some other causes. Rigidity, or rigor mortis, begins in six hours, takes another six to become fully established, remains for 12 hours and passes o? during the succeeding 12 hours. It comes on quickly when extreme exertion has been indulged in immediately before death; conversely it is slow in onset and slight in death from wasting diseases, and slight or absent in children. It begins in the small muscles of the eyelid and jaw and then spreads over the body. PUTREFACTION is variable in time of onset, but usually begins in 2–3 days, as a greenish tint over the abdomen.... death, signs of
death of a fetus in the uterus after 24 weeks of gestation. See stillbirth.... intrauterine fetal death
death of a baby between 7 and 27 completed days of life.... late neonatal death
deaths of women while pregnant or within 42 days of the end of the pregnancy from any cause related to, or aggravated by, the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes. These deaths can be subdivided into four main categories: (1) direct deaths: directly related to pregnancy; (2) indirect deaths: due to pre-existing maternal disease aggravated by pregnancy; (3) coincidental: unrelated to pregnancy; (4) late deaths: occurring between six weeks and one year following delivery. See also maternal mortality rate.... maternal death
(SUDEP) the sudden unexpected nontraumatic death of a person with *epilepsy, with or without evidence of a seizure and with no obvious cause found at post mortem.... sudden unexpected death in epilepsy
a legal document, signed by a doctor, stating (in Part 1) the immediate cause of a person’s death followed by diseases underlying the condition. For example, if the immediate cause of death was a myocardial infarction, the underlying disease might have been ischaemic heart disease or hypertension. Other diseases, which were not directly linked with the immediate cause of death but may have contributed to the patient’s overall condition, are mentioned in Part 2 of the certificate. The document usually states the decedent’s gender and date and place of death; other details, such as occupation, may also be included. The death certificate forms a vital record in most countries throughout the world; without a death certificate, there can be no funeral. For England and Wales, this information is held at the General Register Office, which is now in Southport. In Scotland death certificates are kept at the National Records of Scotland, and in Northern Ireland at the General Register Office for Northern Ireland. Following the case of the serial killer Dr Harold Shipman and the subsequent public enquiry, legislation has introduced greater checks on, and scrutiny of, death certification by doctors.... death certificate
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