Obesity and sudden unexpected deaths in Osaka, Japan.

Obesity and cardiomegaly/hypertension may be strongly associated with sudden unexpected deaths (SUD) due to circulatory diseases. Six hundred and forty-nine SUD involving 402 postmortems, aged between 10 and 59 years in Osaka in 1997 were analyzed using the calculated body mass index (BMI) and the calculated degree of cardiac hypertrophy (DCH) by Hitosugi (Legal Med 1999;1:80). The percentage of individuals who died due to circulatory diseases was 54% in men and 64% in women, and at ages 50-59 years, 60% in men and 75% in women. It was 80% with DCH>/=20%, 84% for individuals with hypertension as a past illness and 80% with BMI>/=24. Thirty-four percent of all SUD have cardiomegaly more than 20%, 41% have BMI more than 24, and 17% have at least hypertension as a past illness.