Natural Causes of Sudden Death

Sudden death means a sudden unexpected death, which is not attributable to violent causes, of a person in apparent good health or suffering from a chronic disease that does not threaten a sudden outcome; natural death occurring in the absence of witnesses must also be considered sudden death. Cardiovascular, respiratory and central nervous system diseases account for the majority of natural, sudden unexpected deaths; specifically, most of the cases are related to cardiovascular disease, especially coronary artery disease. Epilepsy represents one of the most common serious neurological disorders, constituting a malignant condition associated with prematurity of death. Recently, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has spread around the world, infecting more than 100 million people worldwide. Within one year, 2.2 million people died worldwide undergoing severe courses of the disease, called ‘coronavirus disease 19’; in most cases, the reason of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome.