title: Cardiac symptoms before sudden cardiac death caused by coronary artery disease: a nationwide study among young Danish people.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this nationwide case-control study was to identify and characterise symptoms before sudden death of young persons who had died due to coronary artery disease (CAD).
  
  
  METHODS
  We have previously investigated the incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in young Danish people aged 1-35 years in Denmark during 2000-2006. We included all deaths (n=6629) and identified 314 autopsied cases of SCD, 40 of whom (13%) died from CAD. To compare symptoms before death, the CAD case group was sex- and age-matched 1:2 with a control group randomly sampled from a population of 1497 individuals who had died in accidents. We used data from the National Patient Registry on previous contacts with the healthcare system for all persons and read all available patient records, including death certificates and autopsy reports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 31 (79%) persons with CAD-SCD had cardiac symptoms such as angina pectoris (n=24, 62%) and dyspnoea during the 12 months before death, and this was significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.001). In the case group, 18 persons (46%) had contacts with the healthcare system for cardiac symptoms before death, and this was also significantly higher than the control group (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this nationwide study we found that 62% of young persons with SCD experienced angina before death, and nearly half of them who died of CAD had sought medical attention within the last year before death.
authors.affiliation: Danish National Research Foundation Centre for Cardiac Arrhythmia (DARC), University of Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Juliane Maries Vej 20, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. rezajabbari77@gmail.com
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jabbari
authors.forename: Bjarke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Risgaard
authors.forename: Anders G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Holst
authors.forename: Jonas B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Glinge
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Engstrøm
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bundgaard
authors.forename: Jesper H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Svendsen
authors.forename: Stig
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haunsø
authors.forename: Bo Gregers
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Winkel
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tfelt-Hansen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000453:epidemiology; D001344:Autopsy; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Coronary Artery Disease; Myocardial Ischaemia And Infarction (Ihd)