Death from atherosclerotic heart disease

My ex-husband died suddenly at the age of 48. The official cause of death is listed as atherosclerotic heart disease. I only know sketchy details, because nobody was at his house with him at the time he died, but from what I understand the same day he had been having abdominal cramping and also chest pain. He was known a few years ago to have high cholesterol, but I don't think he ever took medication for it. He did lose weight after that, but I don't know if his levels decreased.

Would this basically mean that he had a massive heart attack and died suddenly from that, or is there some other way that you can die from AHSC? My children are young adults, and I'm trying to get enough information that I can give them some semblance of what happened when they ask about details.

**Sorry for the repost - this mistakenly got posted under the topic of angina the first time. **



Thank you.

[Cleveland Clinic]

Sorry about your ex-husband.  In majority of cases sudden cardiac death (what happened to your ex-husband) is due to a massive heart attack resulting in a malignant arrhythmia leading to death.  You children have to be extra careful once they reach their 40's.  I would even say that they should have their cholesterol and other ASHD risk factors check in the early thirties so that appropriate steps could be taken to prevent this from happening to them.