title: Causes of Death and Heart Weights in Adults at Necropsy in a Tertiary Texas Hospital, 2013-2015.
abstract: The causes of death and heart weights at death appear to be quite different in the USA today than in the first few decades of the last century. We determined the causes of death and heart weights at necropsy in 231 adults and compared the heart weights to those reported in several studies in the first half of the 20th century. Of the 231 patients, 91 (39%) died of a cardiovascular (CV) condition, and 140 (61%), of a non-CV condition. Of the 91 fatal CV disease cases, 48 had fatal coronary artery disease (CAD); of the remaining 183 cases without fatal CAD, 25 had narrowing >75% of 1 or more major epicardial coronary arteries. Thus, 73 of the 231 (32%) patients at necropsy had severe CAD. Comparison between the fatal CV and fatal non-CV cases disclosed variable age (mean 64 years vs mean 57 years) and heart weight (529 g vs 449 g) to be significantly different. Heart weight was found to be the only significantly variable between men and women. Comparison of the heart weights in this study to those recorded as "normal" hearts 75 to 115 years earlier showed that today's "average" heart is much larger than those reported earlier. In contrast to the earlier studies, heart weight presently appears to increase with age and with an increase in body mass index. In conclusion, early studies in heart weight did not take into account today's longer survival and therefore a high prevalence of systemic hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity (and cardiac adiposity), and the presence of atherosclerotic CAD. Additionally, the cause of death (CV vs non-CV) was rarely considered in the early studies of heart weight.
authors.affiliation: Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Pathology, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Internal Medicine, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Electronic address: William.Roberts1@BSWHealth.org.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Internal Medicine, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Vera S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Won
authors.affiliation: Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Internal Medicine, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Anupama
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vasudevan
authors.affiliation: Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Pathology, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; Department of Internal Medicine, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Guileyardo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000473:pathology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult