This unfortunate person was probably in a different risk category than you (not knowing your personal history, and obviously diagnoses over HN are fraught with peril ;). He had fairly classic anginal symptoms, putting him at higher risk due to presumed pre-existing ischaemic heart disease, and most likely his heart simply chose that time to have the attack that killed him. Note I'm stating that cause of death clinically since I don't recall he ended up being autopsied and a heart attack can easily throw you into v-fib.

Sudden cardiac death can come from a massive heart attack, but it can just as easily arise from abnormal heart rhythms of other causes which aren't related to coronary artery disease (and the risk factors for same, such as diabetes, obesity, etc.). Essentially you're looking for conditions that would screw up the normal electrical function of the heart and its internal "wiring." The risk factors for that otherwise include pre-existing anatomical defects (bad valves, congenital abnormalities, abnormally large heart size such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), abnormal blood chemistry or electrolyte levels, history of abnormal cardiac rhythm (things like long QT syndrome, Wolff-Parkinson-White), and certain medications and recreational drugs.

If you fall into those categories, have a personal history of heart disease or are otherwise unsure, a simple EKG will rule in or out quite a number on that list. Similarly, if you have a family history of heart disease, you are probably in a higher risk category as well. While the USPSTF doesn't recommend EKGs in asymptomatic individuals at low risk, falling into one of those groups would probably not be low risk anymore. See https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/... for more details.

Hopefully that was somewhat helpful. As always, this wouldn't replace asking your primary care doc about it.

That's incredibly helpful! Thank you!