Doctors baffled by Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) in healthy young people
DOCTORS in Australia are developing the country’s first SADS registry after recent incidents of healthy young people dying from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.
Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, or Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS), is an “umbrella term to describe unexpected deaths in young people” and this ‘mysterious’ syndrome is said to have left doctors in Australia searching for more answers.
This has led doctors at Melbourne’s Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute to create the country’s SADS registry which they hope to roll out across the country in order to gain more information about this sudden death phenomenon.
“In our registry, there are approximately 750 cases per year of people aged under 50 in Victoria suddenly having their heart stop (a cardiac arrest),” a spokeswoman said.
“Of these, approximately 100 young people per year will have no cause found even after extensive investigations such as a full autopsy (the SADS phenomenon).”
According to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), SADS usually occurs in healthy adults under 40 and the term is used when a post-mortem can find no obvious cause of death.
As reported by news.com.au, cardiologist and researcher Dr Elizabeth Paratz said Melbourne’s Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute registry: “[allows you to see] people who have had the cardiac arrest with no cause was found on the back end.”