Autopsy in elderly psychiatric inpatients: A retrospective review of autopsy findings of deceased elderly psychiatric inpatients in North Cheshire 1980-1996

In this 17-year review of death certificates of elderly inpatients of a lar ge psychiatric hospital in North Cheshire, the frequency, trend and value o f performing autopsies were examined. Details of death certificates were co mpared with certificates issued after post-mortem examination to see whethe r an autopsy yielded any additional or relevant information about condition s that art, not directly related to death but might well be of importance t o public health. The rate of post-mortem examination, at 9.5% of total hospital deaths, did not show any significant trend over most of the review period. The vast maj ority of autopsies examined had been requested by the coroner and not by th e clinicians. The review showed that an autopsy may be of some value in providing more in formation regarding any underlying causes of death in elderly psychiatric p atients, but has no value in ensuring higher rate of the recording of condi tions such as dementia, in particular Alzheimer's disease. Selective hospital autopsy in elderly psychiatric patients to verify, neuro pathologically, the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, will improve our diagnostic accuracy and provide valid statistics to be used in estimat ing prevalence, trends, risk factors and for use in all aspects of future r esearch into Alzheimer's disease.