Atherosclerosis and sudden death.

The prevalence of complicated and calcified lesions and coronary stenosis, the mean heart weight, and the extent of atherosclerosis in the aorta and coronary arteries were greater in the "sudden heart death" group than in the high atherosclerosis group. In the "other sudden death" group, which included sudden deaths without myocardial infarction or coronary occlusion, all the above variables, except heart weight, were found to be lower than in the low atherosclerosis group and were close to those in the standardized average atherosclerosis group. The mean heart weight in the "other sudden death" group was lower than in the "sudden heart death" group but significantly higher than in the three reference atherosclerosis groups.