Hypertension and Sudden Unexpected Deaths: An Autopsy Study of Four Hundred and Seventy-Seven Brought-in-Dead in a Tertiary Health Center

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is an important and major public health concern globally. One of the major causes of sudden death worldwide is hypertension. This study is to present the morphological pattern of deaths at autopsy of those patients who were brought-in-dead (BID) and who had hypertensive heart disease (HHD) as the underlying illness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a 6-year retrospective autopsy study of BID patients as a result of HHD seen at our department between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2015. The autopsy findings and data retrieved were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Test for statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 477 deaths (44%) as a result of HHD were recorded out of the 1016 BID during the period under study. The age ranged from 21 to 92 years with a mean age of 52 ± 14.0 years and a male to female ratio of 1.8:1. The 5(th) decade of life was the most common age group encountered. The most common cause of death was acute left ventricular failure (67.8%), and myocardial infarction was the least common (1.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Acute left ventricular heart failure was the most common cause of sudden death as a result of hypertension and was followed by intracerebral hemorrhage. In the female gender, sudden deaths were most common in the 6(th) decade and in the male gender most sudden deaths were seen in the 5(th) decade.