[Clinical features of unexpected sudden death clustered in 7 families in Yunnan Province].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinical features of unexpected sudden death (SUD) clustered in families in Yunnan province.


METHODS
This retrospective study analyzed the clinical features of SUD occurred between July to September 2005 in 7 families in Yunnan province.


RESULTS
All 16 SUD patients shared common clinical features such as fatigue and repeated syncope and one group of SUD patients (n = 8 from 4 families) presented with the gastric intestinal tract manifestations including nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea with suspected dietary history and abnormal laboratory enzyme findings (GOT/GPT, CK/CKMB, LDH/LDH1 etc.). In SUD patients without gastric intestinal tract manifestations (n = 8 from 3 families), there were no clear symptoms before death and repeated ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation were recorded in one survivor. There was no clear evidence for the involvements of hereditary and infectious factors for observed SUD.


CONCLUSIONS
The reason for the unexpected sudden death clustered in 7 families in Yunnan remains unclear. Repeated syncope and fatigue served as the common clinical features in the presence or absence of gastric intestinal tract manifestations in all SUD cases. Further studies are needed to clarify the pathology and detailed clinical manifestations of SUD occurred in this area.
Zhang
Jian
J
Cardiovascular Institute, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100037, China. zhangjian62@medmail.com.cn
Shi
Guo-qing
GQ
Huang
Wen-li
WL
Bao
Jian-zhong
JZ
Ye
Shao-dong
SD
Ren
Jin-ma
JM
Li
Zhao-xiang
ZX
Yu
Meng-yue
MY
Gao
Xin
X
Wang
Yue-bing
YB
Luo
Tong
T
Li
Chong-jian
CJ
Yang
Lin
L
Ren
Xiao-qing
XQ
Zhao
Su
S
Song
Lai-feng
LF
Niu
Cun-long
CL
Wang
Hong-yue
HY
Zhao
Hong
H
Fountaine
Robert E
RE
Yang
Chong-fu
CF
Pu
Jie-lin
JL
Yang
Yue-jin
YJ
Zeng
Guang
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult