Unveiling the cause of sudden cardiac death: a macroscopic and microscopic analysis at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Cluj-Napoca (Romania).

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains a critical public health problem, prompting efforts to understand its underlying causes and identify patients at risk. Despite declining cardiovascular mortality in developed nations, SCD still claims millions of lives annually, disproportionately affecting men and older individuals with a higher prevalence of ischemic heart disease. This study aimed to investigate the potential association between macroscopic and microscopic diagnoses in SCD cases based on a cohort of 3438 medico-legal autopsy reports collected at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between 2014-2018.