Sudden death in SEAsian men

There is a syndrome of sudden cardiac deaths in Filipino and SEAsian men. LINK

The Wikipedia page discusses this.

ASCVD, Hyptertrophic cardiomyopathy, electrical conduction problem in the heart etc. are discussed.

But I doubt acute pancreatitis part discussed in that article... yes, such people do die but usually have lots of pain and other symptoms. And I've treated a lot of pancreatitis (mainly caused by gallstones or alcohol abuse, but also a rare case from depakote and another from pregnancy). You don't see them come in with sudden death, although they can suddenly die in the hospital.

Alas, sudden cardiac death in "healthy" people is not unusual. And often if there is a subtle conduction defect, you just don't find it on routine exam. And even on autopsy you have to look carefully or you'll miss it.

So what killed our cook's son? He had chest pain/palpitations and at least one "heart attack" where he almost died, and mild high blood pressure. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? From ASCVD (single vessel blockage with arrhythmia?) But he had seen a cardiologist and this should have been picked up. Or maybe not.

 And this did not happen while he was asleep, but he began to have chest pain, and went to see the doctor and died while being transported to the hospital.

So probably an arrhythmia.

In the Philippines, they believe the person gets a nightmare and his fear kills him.

Stress can cause constriction of the cardiac blood vessels, as can cigarettes...

So can cocaine/meth/shabu. No, he did not take this, but we lost a neighbor's daughter from this.

There is no one cause, but I suspect a genetic problem in the conduction system of the heart...we have had two deaths in Lolo's family from this.