Challenges in studying sudden death through a prospective population-based study /
Sudden death is an important clinical and public health priority. However, there are unique challenges to studying the incidence and risk factors for sudden death. Unfounded assumptions about disease etiology, the timing of death since the victim was last seen alive and free of symptoms, and the ava...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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London :
SAGE Publications Ltd.,
2020.
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| Series: | SAGE Research Methods Cases : Medicine and Health.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | Sudden death is an important clinical and public health priority. However, there are unique challenges to studying the incidence and risk factors for sudden death. Unfounded assumptions about disease etiology, the timing of death since the victim was last seen alive and free of symptoms, and the availability of witnesses to the death or the timely discovery of the death make it likely that case ascertainment of sudden deaths is often incomplete. Undercounting of victims and such biases in case selection would lead to estimates of incidence and likely fail to capture social and clinical risk factors in vulnerable or socially isolated individuals. An accurate estimate of incidence and potential clinical and social causes of sudden death would seem essential for the prevention of sudden death. Obtaining medical records from a population of deceased individuals with histories of diverse medical contact can also be challenging. We describe a systematic approach to death screening and a rigorous, systematic approach to acquiring medical and death records and case adjudication to identify and characterize all cause, out of hospital, sudden, unexpected death victims among working age adults. Our key findings are that sudden death is common and is strongly associated with chronic medical conditions such as hypertension and mental illness, poverty, and social isolation. This case study offers insights into the practicalities of how one prospective population-based study of sudden death was executed. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781529742879 1529742870 |