Sudden cardiac death in children.

Sudden cardiac death is a relatively infrequent occurrence in the pediatric population. In a review of death certificates in Olmstead County, Minnesota, Driscoll and Edwards1 found 2.3% of 515 deaths in the age range of 1-22 years to be sudden and unexpected, yielding an incidence of 1.3 cases per 100,000 patient years. Of these sudden deaths, only one third were definitely cardiac related, and an additional one fourth were probably cardiac in origin. A similar study reviewing the cardiovascular registry of the United Hospitals, St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1960 to 1983 identified only 50 cases of sudden cardiac death in the age range of 7-35 years.2 In a retrospective international study of sudden