From information complied from death certificates registered in 1952 and 1962 an examination was made of California's autopsy performance and the characteristics of deaths in which autopsy was done. The data indicated that California had an overall autopsy rate of 37 per cent of total deaths in 1962, probably higher than any other state. In the decade reviewed, there was a 62 per cent absolute increase in autopsies and a 7 per cent increase relative to total deaths.Substantial increases in the proportion of deaths in which autopsy was done were found for physician-certified deaths in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties and for coroner-certified deaths in nonmetropolitan counties. For all but two of forty-five selected natural causes of death there were increases in the proportion of deaths in which autopsy was done.Seventy per cent of deaths occurred in some type of facility. About one-half of all deaths occurred in general hospitals, and autopsy was done in 42 per cent of such cases.The dual factors of a high autopsy rate and overrepresentation of deaths brought to autopsy in white males, ages 35-64, support the validity of a reported decline in California's death rate for arteriosclerotic heart disease.
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