The State-appointed expert committee’s analysis on the reported rise in sudden heart attack deaths in Hassan district during May-June has not indicated any increase in such deaths in correlation with those that occurred during the previous months.
While four of the 24 deaths were due to non-cardiac reasons (chronic kidney disease, road traffic accident, acute gastroenteritis and suspected electrocution) only 10 of the remaining 20 were confirmed cardiac deaths. These 10 included those with pre-existing heart disease, those who had undergone bypass surgery, angioplasty and had dilated cardiomyopathy (heart failure). The remaining ten have been classified as “probable” cardiac deaths based on presentation, risk factors and symptoms.
The committee headed by K.S. Ravindranath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, submitted its report to the Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday. As most of the deceased include autorickshaw and cab drivers, the committee has recommended cardiac screening for people in this occupation.
No increasing trend
The committee that analysed data of cardiac cases at Jayadeva institute in Bengaluru and its peripheral centres in Mysuru and Kalaburgi in the last six months has concluded that it does not show any increasing trend of cardiac deaths. “Besides, definitive conclusions about cause of death in each case are limited due to lack of autopsy data, clinical data and limited history from family members,” stated the report..
Addressing presspersons after accepting the report, the Health Minister said the committee had found that the reported deaths were scattered and not clustered. “The committee has found that 75% of the deceased had known cardiac risk profiles and many had identifiable risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, obesity, hypertension, or a family history of heart disease. However, in several cases, there was no prior diagnosis or indication of existing heart disease, and the sudden nature of death – often during sleep or immediately following mild symptoms-demands serious attention,” he said.
Limitations
The expert committee’s investigation in Hassan district has revealed significant limitations in accurately determining the cause of death in some cases. In many instances, the individuals were not brought to any healthcare facility prior to death, and even among those who were declared brought dead at hospitals, formal post-mortem was not done. “This lack of autopsy data critically hampers the ability to confirm whether these were truly cardiac-related deaths or due to alternative causes. Furthermore, essential clinical investigations such as ECGs, cardiac enzymes, or imaging were unavailable in many cases, making retrospective diagnosis speculative at best,” the Minister said quoting the report.
“Compounding the challenge was the limited cooperation from the relatives of the deceased in several cases, which rendered verbal autopsy efforts largely inconclusive. In the absence of reliable eyewitness accounts, clinical data, and post-mortem findings, establishing a definitive cause of death for each case becomes inherently difficult. These gaps in documentation and diagnostic confirmation highlight the need for systemic improvements in emergency response protocols, mandatory post-mortem guidelines for sudden deaths, and better community engagement during such investigations to ensure accurate cause-of- death assessments in the future,” stated the report..
Young individuals
Noting that the presence of sudden deaths in relatively young individuals is concerning and cannot be overlooked, the Minister said that 14 of the 24 deceased were aged below 45 years. “While limitations in data collection and diagnostic confirmation are acknowledged, the clustering of deaths in this younger age group does raise red flags, particularly in the context of rising cardiovascular risk factors in the population,” the report stated.
Autopsy
Recommending establishment of mandatory investigation protocols (including post-mortems) for all sudden deaths in healthy young adults, the committee has reiterated that all out-of-hospital sudden cardiac deaths should undergo autopsy to confirm/rule out the cause of death as cardiac.
Apart from this, the committee has recommended that the State government should ensure availability of ECG machines and emergency cardiac medicines such as Ecosprin, Clopidogrel, Atorvastatin and Heparin) for cases of heart attack in all Primary and Community Health Centres. The other recommendations included CPR training for focused groups such as school and college students, teachers, and physical trainers in gyms and availability of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) in public places.
Published – July 10, 2025 06:24 pm IST
