Table 1. Clinical information and meta data about autopsy patients from 1988 to 2008.
| Characteristics | 1988 (GDR) | 1988 (FRG) | 1993 | 1998 | 2003 | 2008 | Total | |||||||
| General Data | all | study | all | study | all | study | all | study | all | study | all | study | all | study |
| n (pat.) | 1198 | 300 | 305 | 300 | 387 | 300 | 537 | 300 | 482 | 300 | 390 | 300 | 3299 | 1800 |
| male [%] | 55.0 | 58.0 | 40.7 | 40.7 | 55.8 | 56.7 | 57.2 | 57.3 | 62.4 | 61.3 | 59.0 | 60.3 | 55.7 | 55.7 |
| female [%] | 45.0 | 42.0 | 59.3 | 59.3 | 44.2 | 43.3 | 42.8 | 42.7 | 37.6 | 38.7 | 41.0 | 39.7 | 44.3 | 44.3 |
| age (mean/median) | 61.662.0 | 62.262.5 | 72.876.0 | 72.876.0 | 61.162.0 | 61.562.0 | 63.665.0 | 63.264.0 | 62.364.0 | 62.864.5 | 63.766.0 | 63.865.0 | 63.364.0 | 64.466.0 |
| Autopsy rates | ||||||||||||||
| university hospitals [%] | 96.6 | 44.5 | 22.0 | 22.2 | 26.2 | 20.1 | ||||||||
| community hospitals [%] | 77.0 | 19.6 | 11.7 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 5.3 | ||||||||
| Location of last treatment (gross) | ||||||||||||||
| university hospitals [%] | 45.9 | 43.6 | 58.0 | 58.7 | 62.3 | 62.0 | 56.7 | 56.5 | 68.7 | 67.0 | 61.5 | 62.0 | 55.9 | 58.3 |
| community hospitals [%] | 54.1 | 56.4 | 41.6 | 41.3 | 37.7 | 38.0 | 43.3 | 43.5 | 31.3 | 33.0 | 38.4 | 38.0 | 44.1 | 41.7 |
| intensive care unit [%] | 24.2 | 25.0 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 32.0 | 33.3 | 35.8 | 33.3 | 39.8 | 40.0 | 65.9 | 66.7 | 36.2 | 33.7 |
| low and intermediate care unit [%] | 72.9 | 70.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 66.9 | 65.7 | 60.5 | 62.3 | 60.0 | 59.7 | 34.1 | 33.3 | 63.8 | 48.7 |
| Location of last treatment (detailed) | ||||||||||||||
| (internal) medicine [%] | 47.3 | 41.7 | 58.7 | 58.7 | 55.8 | 53.7 | 43.0 | 43.3 | 50.4 | 50.3 | 44.9 | 45.3 | 48.8 | 48.8 |
| surgery (incl. cardiac, neurol., bone) [%] | 18.3 | 21.3 | 19.3 | 19.3 | 11.4 | 11.3 | 27.0 | 26.7 | 28.4 | 28.7 | 35.4 | 35.7 | 22.5 | 23.8 |
| anaesthesiology [%] | 13.4 | 12.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 19.6 | 21.3 | 16.0 | 14.0 | 8.9 | 10.3 | 14.4 | 13.7 | 12.9 | 12.1 |
| neurology [%] | 3.3 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 2.9 |
| other [%] | 16.7 | 20.3 | 18.7 | 18.7 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 10.0 | 9.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 11.4 | 10.7 |
| unknown [%] | 1.1 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 |
The data presented here do not reveal significant differences between “all” and “study” group concerning the distribution of the characteristics considered, therefore representativeness can be assumed.