RESUMO
Objective To investigate the characteristics and influencing factors leading to sudden cardiac death (SCD) of incarcerated prisoners. Methods Seventy-five SCD cases of prisoners between 2000 and 2013 in Henan province were collected, and environment, psychological and physical factors were retro-spectively analyzed. Combined with histopathological results, specific factors of SCD were also studied. Results In the 75 cases, 21 cases (28%) had definite chronic past medical histories, and 75 cases (100%) had cardiovascular disease confirmed by autopsy. Conclusion Due to presence of the potential cardiac diseases, special incarcerated environment, psychological stress, and body-restraint might be the precipitat-ing factors in SCD of those prisoners.