AIIMS starts molecular autopsy to find out reason behind sudden deaths post Covid-19

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], February 23 : India's top medical body Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) conducted a study in collaboration with AIIMS Delhi to find out whether there is any link between sudden young adult deaths, Covid-19 and vaccination.
Various departments of AIIMS Delhi are involved in this study including the Department of Forensic Medicine.
On the study of the death of young adults in India post Covid-19, AIIMS Delhi Head of Forensic Medicine Department Professor Dr Sudhir Gupta said, "The government and ICMR asked us to do a thorough study to find out the cause of deaths... The study is still ongoing and till now we have not found only cardiac origin reasons for death. We have found multiple organs like lungs and brain (for the cause of death)... Till now we have not found any direct link between the sudden young adult deaths, Covid-19 and vaccination."
"Now we are doing molecular autopsy also to know more about sudden deaths in youngsters," he said
Molecular autopsy is a molecular technique used in forensic medicine to attempt to determine the cause of death in unexplained cases, in particular sudden deaths like cardiac death.
The study done by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) underlined behavioural factors behind the sudden deaths. It was published in a peer-reviewed study that included 47 tertiary care hospitals country-wide.
"Family history of sudden death, behaviours such as binge drinking 48 hrs before death and vigorous-intensity physical activity performed 48 hrs before death significantly increased the odds for unexplained sudden death among young adults." .