title: A retrospective analysis of pathological and clinical diagnoses: report of 240 pediatric autopsies.
abstract: Reduction of childhood mortality is a worldwide health priority. By investigating the most frequent causes of childhood death and analyzing the major causes of misdiagnosis, this study aims to quantify the value of autopsy and guide further research for improving health services. A total of 240 autopsied cases were recruited into the study. The major causes of death according to the system were respiratory diseases, followed by neoplasms and infectious diseases, while the top three causes of death according to diseases were lobular pneumonia, septicemia, and malignant histiocytosis. Agreement between pathologic and clinical diagnoses was shown in 169 autopsies (70.5%), and the other 71 cases (29.6%) had been misdiagnosed. This study demonstrated the value of the routine autopsy by documenting the high rate of disagreement between clinical and autopsy diagnoses. However, the role of routine autopsy for determining in-born errors of metabolism is limited.
authors.affiliation: Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Department of Pediatrics, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Xiaolu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Guoli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuandong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Jingwu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies