Table 1.

Modes of Death Definitions

Cardiovascular
Death owing to heart failure or cardiogenic shock refers to a death occurring in the context of clinically worsening symptoms and/or signs of heart failure, regardless of heart failure etiology.*
Death owing to arrhythmia refers to a death witnessed and attributed to an identified arrhythmia (eg, captured on an electrocardiographic recording, witnessed on a monitor, or unwitnessed but found on implantable cardioverter defibrillator review).†
Death owing to stroke refers to death after a cerebrovascular event that is either a direct consequence of or substantially contributed to by the stroke.
Other cardiovascular death refers to a cardiovascular death not included in the above categories but with a specific, known cause (eg, cardiovascular procedure, cardiovascular hemorrhage, pulmonary embolism, limb ischemia).
Noncardiovascular
Death owing to anoxic brain injury refers to death after cardiopulmonary arrest with evidence of severe neurological injury (eg, bilateral absence of pupillary and corneal reflexes ≥96 hours after cardiac arrest, highly malignant EEG pattern, global ischemic pattern on CT scan of the brain or brain MRI), including withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies owing to poor neurological prognosis.
Death owing to respiratory failure refers to a death occurring in the context of insupportable oxygenation or ventilation on maximum ventilator settings or inability to liberate from mechanical ventilation, and not primarily owing to heart failure.
Death owing to noncardiogenic shock refers to a death occurring in the context of severe hypotension or vasopressor dependence and systemic malperfusion (eg, severe sepsis), and not primarily owing to cardiogenic shock.‡
Other noncardiovascular death refers to death with a specific cause that is not thought to be cardiovascular in nature and is not respiratory failure, anoxic brain injury, or noncardiogenic shock (eg, renal failure in a patient who is not a candidate for renal replacement therapy).

^*Note: Death resulting from mixed shock with a primarily cardiogenic component should be considered death owing to heart failure or cardiogenic shock.

^†Note: Terminal agonal rhythms or asystole as part of death from other causes do not meet this definition.

^‡Note: Death resulting from mixed shock with a primarily distributive or hypovolemic component should be considered death owing to noncardiogenic shock.

CT, computed tomography; EEG, electroencephalography; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging.