Objective To analysis correlation factors for preoperative sudden death of patients with type A aortic dissection in order to determine clinical management strategy.?Methods?We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 52 patients with type A aortic dissection who were admitted in Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of the Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School from January 2003 to January 2010. According to the presence of preoperative death, all the patients were divided into two groups, 9 patients in the preoperative sudden death （PSD）group including 7 males and 2 females with their mean age of 52.0±12.1 years；43 patients in the control group including 31 males and 12 females with their mean age of 51.5±10.9 years. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used for analysis of preoperative factors related to sudden death.?Results?Univariate analysis result showed 7 candidate variables：body mass index （BMI, Wald χ2=2.150, P=0.143）, time of onset （Wald χ2=2.711, P= 0.100）, total cholesterol （TC, Wald χ2=1.444, P=0.230）, low density lipoprotein cholesterol （L-C, Wald χ2=1.341, P=0.247）, aortic insufficiency （AI, Wald χ2=2.093, P=0.148）, aortic sinus involvement （Wald χ2=3.386, P=0.066）and false lumen thrombosis （Wald χ2=7.743, P=0.005）. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that BMI （Wald χ2=4.215, P=0.040, OR=1.558）and aortic sinus involvement （Wald χ2=4.592, P=0.032, OR=171.166 ）were preoperative risk factors for sudden death, and thrombosed false lumen （Wald χ2=5.097, P=0.024, OR=0.011）was preoperative protective factor for sudden death.?Conclusion?Type A aortic dissection patients with large BMI and/or aortic sinus involvement should receive operation more urgently than others and patients with thrombosed false lumen may have relatively low risk of preoperative sudden death.