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  • 12 January 1968
    • journal article
    • Published by Wiley
Abstract
During the years 1955, 1960, 1964, 1965, and 1966, 2678 deaths outside the hospitals in the Stockholm region due to arteriosclerotic heart disease (ASHD) were certified by autopsy at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. Of these, 1213 deaths were considered sudden. Owing to detailed police records and autopsy protocols, the place and activity at time of death as well as postmortem findings could be studied. In the males below the age of 70 death at work was found to occur less frequently than expected, as calculated from the estimated time spent there. Heavy physical exercise and mental stress together were found to precede no more than 25 per cent of the male sudden deaths, and only a minority of the female. Autopsy revealed a recent myocardial infarction in 34% of the males below the age of 50, and in about 20% of the older males. Even lower figures were recorded in the females. Possible causes of these apparently infrequent findings are discussed. In agreement with the observations of other authors, an overrepresentation of myocardial ruptures was found in the females. Previous symptoms suggestive of ASHD were considered absent in 37% of the male sudden deaths below the age of 50, and in about 20% of the older subjects of both sexes.