Correlation between changes in the age of the heart and sudden death during bathing of the elderly

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K09277
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Legal medicine
• Research Institution: Kitasato University
• Principal Investigator: Satoh Fumiko 北里大学, 医学部, 教授 (70328128)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 入江 渉 北里大学, 医学部, 講師 (80597352)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 入浴 / 突然死 / 法医解剖 / 心臓 / 加齢性変化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As aging progresses, the number of sympathetic nerve cells decreases, resulting in uneven distribution of sympathetic nerves, which may lead to the development of atrial fibrillation. The number of adrenergic and non-adrenergic fibers in the pulmonary vein was examined immunohistochemically in cases of sudden death during bathing and control cases. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of adrenergic fibers compared with the control cases, and it was considered that the association between acute death during bathing and the occurrence of atrial fibrillation was low. Sudden death during bathing In the heart of autopsy cases, age-related changes such as lipofuscin deposition, perivascular fibrosis, and non-uniformity of the myocardial nuclei were frequently observed, resulting in decreased cardiac function. It was thought that this was related to the sudden death during bathing.

Free Research Field

法医病理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

我々は、入浴中の急死の剖検例の心臓の病理所見を検討すると、心肥大、心臓の加齢性変化であるリポフスチンの沈着、Basophilic degeneration、血管周囲の線維化、心筋の核の大小不同が高頻度に発現していた。コントロール例として、20歳代～90歳代までの心臓疾患の有さない剖検例対象例として比較した。両者を比較すると、心臓の加齢性変化は同程度の発現頻度であり、特に入浴中の急死例に心臓の加齢性の変化が発現しているとは言えないと考えられた。加齢と共に、心臓には加齢性変化が高頻度に発現しており、これらの変化による心臓の機能低下が入浴中の急死に関与している可能性があると考えられた。