Abstract

Background: A sudden unexpected death (SUD) is defined as a natural, unexpected fatal event that occurs within one hour of the onset of symptoms in an apparently healthy subject. We did not have any official statistics about the causes and rates of SUD in Iran. Methods: The present study aims to compare the autopsy reports of SUD of individuals under the age of 35 years, during 2012-2016. We divided the cases into two age groups (Group A: 1-17 years old, and Group B: 18-35 years old, at the time of death) Results: In total, 1,873 sudden unexpected deaths were studied during 2012-2016 out of which, 1,580 (84.4) subjects were male and 293 (15.6) were female. There were no statistically significant differences among the rates of the SUD cases during the five years' period of our study. The rates of SUD in our study were 91 (4.8) in Group A, and 1,782 (95.2) in Group B. SUD was the most common cause of death in the group with 31-35-year-old people 980 (52.3%). Conclusion: Our study shows that the main causes of SUD are congenital and acquired heart disorders. Our study demonstrates the necessity of convincing Iranian individuals to change their life styles.