Sudden cardiac death in physicians: an alarming problem in China

The recent revised declaration of Geneva highlights that physicians should attend to their own health, well-being, and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard (1). Nevertheless, in China, sudden cardiac death has frequently occurred in the past 2 years. In our statistical analysis, the number of physician deaths was 17 and 23 in 2016 and 2017, respectively, which were notably increased compared with the reported 29 deaths from November 2008 to April 2015 (2). The percentage of male physicians was 95.7%. The mean age was 36.30±8.41 years. In this year, sudden cardiac death occurred in nine surgeons, five anesthesiologists, six internal physicians, and three intervention specialists. A 24-h shift or a night shift (11 cases) and preparing a ranking examination (7 cases) were the most common causes