title: Necropsies in the elderly.
abstract: A retrospective analysis of 332 necropsies in the over-65-year-olds and 129 necropsies in the over 85-year-olds (overall necropsy rate 35%) showed that the commonest cause of death in elderly patients admitted acutely to hospital was pneumonic illnesses. 27-31% of the necropsies revealed the presence of a potentially treatable contributory factor to death that was undiagnosed during life. In only 4.5% of the necropsies in the over-85-year-olds was the cause of death uncertain.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D003644:Death Certificates; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine; D009026:Mortality; D013038:Specialization