title: Sudden death while driving a four-wheeled vehicle: an autopsy analysis.
abstract: We retrospectively analysed forensic autopsies to resolve various issues associated with sudden natural death while driving. We collected information about the medical history, drug treatment, anthropometry and body mass index (BMI) of 34 individuals who suddenly died of natural causes while driving four-wheeled vehicles. The reasons for driving, details of the vehicle, type of collision, perspective of vehicle behaviour and types of avoidance manoeuvres were also examined. The injury severity score (ISS), the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and the degree of cardiomegaly of the driver were determined from autopsy findings. The dominant cause of death was ischemic heart disease, which closely agreed with previous findings. However, forensic signs indicated that only 20.6% of deceased drivers had attempted avoidance manoeuvres such as braking or steering before the fatal accident, which contradicts previous findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine, Tochigi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Motozawa
authors.forename: Masahito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hitosugi
authors.forename: Masahito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kido
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurosu
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokudome
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000328:Adult; D001344:Autopsy; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000453:epidemiology; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015541:Off-Road Motor Vehicles; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014947:Wounds and Injuries