NEW DELHI: Sudden deaths are no longer confined to old age. An AIIMS study has found that more than half of all sudden deaths examined over a year occurred in people under 45 — many of them apparently healthy, who collapsed without warning at home or while travelling. Published this month in Indian Journal of Medical Research as part of an ongoing Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) project, the cross-sectional study was conducted between May 2023 and April 2024 at the departments of pathology and forensic medicine at AIIMS New Delhi. Of the 2,214 autopsies analysed, 180 cases — 8.1% — met the criteria for sudden death. Young adults aged 18–45 accounted for 103 of these cases, or 57.2%, with an average age of 33.6 years and a strong male predominance. Heart disease emerged as the

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