Abstract

Background: Although the mean age of sudden cardiac death (SCD) victims has increased during recent decades, overall incidence has remained relatively stable. Small but very important proportion of SCDs occur in subjects under 40 years of age and temporal trends in the incidence and characteristics of SCD in this age-group are not well known.

Methods: The Fingesture study has prospectively gathered data from 5,869 consecutive autopsy verified SCD victims in Northern Finland during 1998–2017. On the basis of Finnish law, all who die unexpectedly undergo autopsy.

Results: Out of total 5,869 SCDs, 160 occurred in subjects under 40 years of age (3%) indicating a total incidence of 2.9/100,000/year. Incidence decreased during the study period: 4.0/100,000/year (n = 50) in 1998–2002, 3.7/100,000/year (n = 45) in 2003–2007, 2.5/100,000/year (n = 36) in 2008–2012, and 1.5/100,000/year (n = 29) in 2013–2017. Coronary artery disease (CAD) was the cause of death in 46 SCD victims (29%). Among nonischemic causes, most common were obesity-related hypertrophic myocardial disease (24%), primary myocardial fibrosis (19%), and hypertensive myocardial disease (6%). The incidence of SCD caused by CAD decreased as follows: 1.5/100,000/year in 1998–2002, 1.2/100,000/year in 2003–2007, 0.6/100,000/year in 2008–2012, and 0.2/100,000/year in 2013–2017. Proportion of male gender (81%) and obesity as a comorbidity (body mass index >30 kg/m², 40%) remained relatively stable during the period (p = 0.58 and p = 0.79, respectively).

Conclusions: The incidence of SCD in subjects under 40 years of age has decreased in Northern Finland during 1998–2017. According to autopsy data, most of the deaths are due to nonischemic myocardial diseases and relative proportion of CAD has decreased.