Getting to the Bottom of Sudden Cardiac Death in Persons with HIV

Persons with HIV (PWH) are at excess risk for myocardial infarction and heart failure, and their rates of sudden cardiac death are 4.5 times higher than in the general population; nonetheless, postmortem data regarding underlying cause are lacking. Investigators sought to pinpoint the cause of death following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among PWH in San Francisco (age range, 18–90) from February 2011 through September 2016. Of 1379 deaths, emergency medical services records indicated that 109 were due to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and were referred for postmortem examination. Among 48 cases meeting WHO criteria for sudden cardiac death, 47 underwent autopsy (mean age, 54.5; 94% men; 77% white) for an incidence of 54.5 deaths per 100,…