What is the sudden cardiac death that caused the death of 35-year-old actor Godfrey Tsao？

[Text/Observer Network Yan Shanshan]

On November 27th, Godfrey Tsao, a 35-year-old Taiwan Province actor, fell into a coma while recording a program, and died after being rescued. Afterwards, Weibo, the official of Zhejiang Satellite TV’s Chase Me, issued a statement saying that the hospital announced that Godfrey Tsao had died of "sudden cardiac death". According to a statement issued by Godfrey Tsao’s company, Godfrey Tsao recorded the program in the early hours of the 27th.

As soon as the news came out, many netizens questioned the operation of recording the program in the early morning and expressed doubts about the cause of "sudden cardiac death".

Source: "Chase Me" program group @ Chase Me

The definition of sudden death by the World Health Organization (WHO) is: Sudden death is called when a patient who is usually healthy or seemingly healthy suddenly dies due to his own disease in an unexpected short time.

Sudden cardiac death refers to the natural death caused by cardiac causes characterized by sudden loss of consciousness after the onset of acute symptoms. At present, most scholars tend to limit the time of sudden cardiac death to one hour. There are three characteristics: sudden death, unexpected death, natural death or non-violent death.

On the morning of 27th, after @ Chasing Me issued a related statement, many netizens questioned the early morning recording of the program, and thought that the first aid measures of the program group were not in place.

At noon on the 27th, Observer.com consulted Zhi Xiaoming, chief physician of the Department of Cardiology, Tongling People’s Hospital of Anhui Province, and the director said that,People with sudden cardiac death generally suffer from basic diseases.Such as heart disease, myocarditis, arrhythmia, etc., people with these diseases are prone to sudden cardiac death.

In addition, Zhang Junxia, the head nurse of the Department of Cardiology in this hospital, added that sudden cardiac death mostly occurs in young people, and the common one is viral myocarditis caused by lack of rest or viral infection such as colds, and this acute inflammatory disease can easily lead to sudden death.

Another medical expert who has been a doctor for more than 30 years said that sudden cardiac death is not necessarily related to strenuous exercise, but fatigue at ordinary times does induce symptoms.

According to the report of every film and television on November 27th, a variety show director revealed that artists who participated in the recording of competitive variety usually worked for more than ten hours continuously, plus makeup time. "Procrastination" has become the normal operation of domestic variety show recording, and even the recording works continuously for 48 hours.

On the 27th, Weibo @ Lilac Doctor, the official website of Lilac Garden’s health science platform, posted in Weibo that, judging from the nature and shooting time of the program that Godfrey Tsao participated in, the initial guess may be that he fainted due to excessive work intensity and overwork. For artists who are busy with their daily trips, it is very likely that they will faint because of work fatigue and lack of rest when they participate in shooting such programs in the early hours of the morning.

At 13: 05 on the 27th, Qin Ming, deputy director of the forensic doctor and author of the series of "Forensic Medicine Qin Ming", also wrote in Weibo that "among patients with sudden cardiac death, 80% of adult deaths are related to acute coronary syndrome". In the practice of forensic work, the most common is sudden death caused by coronary heart disease (coronary atherosclerotic heart disease).

Qin Ming, a forensic doctor, pointed out that under the action of some inducement, blood vessels contract, which leads to acute myocardial ischemia, and then malignant arrhythmia leads to sudden death. This kind of death is rapid, and the precursor may only be discomfort such as chest tightness. He said that these diseases are difficult to find without special examination. A large proportion of people who have sudden death are seemingly very healthy people. It is not uncommon to run to death on the football field, be exhausted in the office and stay up late in the Internet cafe.

For the correct rescue method before sudden death, Liu Yongjian, the attending physician of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that time is very important. Only about half of the people can be rescued after 4 minutes, and the mortality rate will increase by 10% every minute. It is basically difficult to successfully save the life after more than 10 minutes.

Jiang Wei, an attending physician in the ICU of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that when rescuing, you should first judge whether you are conscious, usually by patting your shoulder to confirm. If you don’t respond, you should call the emergency number immediately, and then start cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and replace heart work with palm pressing.

Precautions for cardiopulmonary resuscitation are: put the palm root in the middle of the chest, put the other hand on top of one hand, cross your fingers, straighten your arms, and press 100 to 120 times per minute.

According to the China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2018 compiled by the National Cardiovascular Center, it is estimated that,The number of cardiovascular patients in China is 290 million, and the mortality rate ranks first.It accounts for more than 40% of residents’ disease deaths, which is higher than that of tumors and other diseases. Two out of every five deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases, and rural areas are higher than urban areas.

At present, the prevalence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases are still on the rise. In 2017, the total number of cases of coronary heart disease interventional therapy in mainland China was 753,142, an increase of 13% compared with 2016.

Changes in mortality of major diseases among rural residents in China from 1990 to 2016 (Source: Summary of China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2018)

Changes in Mortality of Major Diseases among Urban Residents in China from 1990 to 2016 (Summary of China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2018)

According to the China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2016, the incidence of sudden cardiac death in China exceeds 540,000 every year, which is equivalent to about 1,500 people dying of sudden cardiac death every day, and more than 60% of them occur outside medical institutions, so patients cannot get effective rescue treatment in time.

According to the Qilu Evening News reported on July 10, 2017, statistics show that,In China, young people aged 18-39 account for the highest proportion, reaching 43%.. Acute myocardial infarction in young people is different from angina pectoris caused by long-term myocardial ischemia in the elderly, and it is not easy to attract attention because there is no obvious symptom. However, young people just lack "myocardial ischemic preconditioning" and are more prone to sudden cardiac death.

For this sudden illness, Zhang Junxia, the nurse in charge, suggested that as young people, they should have a good rest, not be overtired, not stay up late, and live a regular life.

A medical expert also suggested that individuals should have regular physical examinations and seek medical advice in time if they feel unwell; All organizations and units should abide by the labor protection law, actively organize health checkups, and avoid employees from overworking and overtime; All units and public places should be equipped with first aid facilities; The society needs to popularize first aid knowledge, improve people’s health awareness, and attach importance to exercise to enhance physical fitness.

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