# How often do otherwise healthy people die suddenly?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-otherwise-healthy-people-die-suddenly/737491>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 13, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-otherwise-healthy-people-die-suddenly/737491 "2015-11-13T19:02:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-otherwise-healthy-people-die-suddenly/737491/21 "2015-11-16T18:12:47Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Only once. Nobody’s done it twice yet.

1.

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-otherwise-healthy-people-die-suddenly/737491/22 "2015-11-16T20:00:48Z")

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> [@Sattua](#):
>
> SIDS never completely goes away, just because people stop being infants. Some doctors want to call it SADS: Sudden Adult Death Syndrome or else SUDS: Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome. It’s hard to pin down the numbers, because there are so many subtle problems that can cause a person to die unexpectedly, but it seems they’re very small. Here’s [the wiki entry on it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_unexpected_death_syndrome), which focuses on the occurrence in Asian populations, but it happens to all populations. A quick Google search will find plenty of articles about it in the UK, US, etc.

I want to be able to say that someone died of the sads.

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**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-otherwise-healthy-people-die-suddenly/737491/23 "2015-11-17T20:09:57Z")

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> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> Do you have Marfan’s syndrome?

Nope, I did ask though… The doc said it is a protein thing. Genetic, uncle, his son and an aunt all on my fathers side. The aneurysm (a general increase in diameter of the aorta, not the bubble that most folks think of) was discovered through a echo-cardiogram for a murmur. Apparently I also have a bicuspid aortic valve. The doc tightened it up, but didn’t feel the need to replace it.

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-otherwise-healthy-people-die-suddenly/737491/24 "2015-11-18T01:50:37Z")

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I would consider someone with no serious disease (as in a virus or pathogen), but who has a congenital defect (weak heart valve, brain aneurism, something of that nature) to be “healthy” and people in that situation die from it often.

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