Arrhythmogenic Marker for the Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome in Thai Men

Background Between 1981 and 1988, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a very high incidence of sudden death among young male Southeast Asians who died unexpectedly during sleep. The pattern of death has long been prevalent in Southeast Asia. We carried out a study to identify the clinical markers for patients at high risk of developing sudden unexplained death syndrome (SUDS) and long-term outcomes. Methods and Results We studied 27 Thai men (mean age, 39.7±11 years) referred because they had cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation, usually occurring at night while asleep (n=17), or were suspected to have had symptoms similar to the clinical presentation of SUDS (n=10). We performed cardiac testing, including EPS and cardiac catheterization. The patients were then followed at ≈3-month intervals; our primary end points were death, ventricular fibrillation, or cardiac arrest. A distinct ECG abnormality divided our patients who had no structural heart disease (except 3 patients wit...