title: [Analysis of mortality causes for 165 type 2 diabetics: an autopsy study].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the main mortality causes and pathological characteristics of type 2 diabetics with autopsy findings.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 165 autopsy reports of type 2 diabetics were retrospectively reviewed and summarized at our institution. And 165 non-diabetics during the same period were analyzed similarly.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The clinical data showed that type 2 diabetics had a higher risk for coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, hyperlipidemia and renal diseases than non-diabetics (P < 0.05). The pathological data revealed that the rate of myocardium diseases in type 2 diabetics (69.6%, n = 103) was higher than that in non-diabetics (58.6%, n = 85). The evaluation of arteriosclerotic grading demonstrated that the degree of arteriosclerosis in type 2 diabetics was severer than that in non-diabetics. The organ weight analysis showed the weight of thyroid, heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, adrenal gland and brain had no significant difference between type 2 diabetics and non-diabetics (P > 0.05). The three major mortality causes were malignant neoplasms (39.4%, n = 65), circulatory system diseases (35.2%, n = 58) and respiratory system diseases (9.1%, n = 15).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The onset of malignant tumors, especially gastrointestinal one, should be monitored closely during the prevention and treatment of cardiocerebrovascular diseases and complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Endocrinology; Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chun-Lin
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Li-Xin
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies