An Inquiry into "Bangungut"

1 June 1957

journal article
research article
Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in Archives of internal medicine (1960)

Vol. 99 (6) , 905-912
https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.1957.00260060063006

Abstract

There have been reports in the lay press^1,2as well as in medical literature of sudden unexplained deaths during sleep among Filipinos. The victims are generally young (between 25 and 40 years of age) robust men without manifestations of any prior illness, who go to sleep after eating a heavy meal and while asleep are observed to cough, choke, gasp, groan, scream, yell, or struggle and then suddenly die without waking up from their sleep. In a known patient³who woke up but who died when he returned to sleep the same night, headache and abdominal pain were complained of. The incidence of these deaths is greater among the laboring class^4,5than among businessmen and professionals, and although in Hawaii other Orientals form a sizeable group, the malady seems to be confined to Filipinos. Of the 30 deaths reported in the city of Manila in 1955, 26

Keywords

DEATH, SUDDEN

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