Infrequent Cardiac Deaths Occur in Bronchial Asthma

Abstract

Sudden death in asthma can be a devastating and inexplicable event that forces physicians to seek an explanation. Over the years, this problem appears to have been increasing, although a sizeable proportion of the 4,500 or so deaths a year in the United States occur in older people1 and asthma may reflect the one obvious diagnosis given to patients who are terminally ill with multiple geriatric disorders. Truly unexpected deaths, some of which occur suddenly in patients who are not regarded as having severe asthma,2 constitute a very minor but highly disturbing subset in the population of over 10 million patients with asthma in the United States.