Question: How is sudden unexplained nocturnal death syndrome more common in Filipinos?

Angela Stokes answered on 13 Nov 2014:

It is a genetic disease and is actually the most common cause of sudden death in young men without cardiac disease in Laos and Thailand, as well as being seen in Filipino men. The gene mutation concerned alters an ion channel modulator in the heart. The condition is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern and is more common in males