Abstract
To consider the possibility of survival for the victims suffering from cardiogenic cardiac arrest while vehicle driving, retrospective analysis was performed for sudden cardiac death cases. Among the forensic autopsies performed at Shiga University of Medical Science between January 2015 and January 2021, sudden cardiac death cases occurred at outdoor were selected. Then, the cases were divided into occurring while vehicle driving （Driving group） and others （Non-driving group）. Thirty-five cases with a mean age of 63.9 was composed of Driving group （20 cases） and Non-driving group （15 cases）. No significant differences of mean age, sex ratio, mean body mass index and prevalence of previous histories of the victims were found between the two groups. In Driving group, 95％ of victims had been unconscious when found by the witnesses and all victims had been cardiopulmonary arrest at the contact of emergency crews. More victims in driving group had been witnessed than those in Non-driving group （50％ vs. 13％, p=0.03）. The mean duration between the event and the contact of emergency crews was shorter in Driving group than Non-driving. For the collisions due to driverʼs health problem, because the driver might be in serious conditions, prompt rescue for drivers is required regardless of the degree of the collision. For the vehicle drivers suffering from cardiogenic cardiac arrest, if the cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed by bystanders immediately, the number of deaths can be decreased. In future, regarding the vehicle collision due to drivers’ health problem, measures to rescue the driver and to avoid the following collision are required.
