Mortality and autopsy rate for gastrointestinal diseases in Finland in 1955--1973
Ahonen, A.; Penttilä, A.
Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 14(6): 721-728
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-5521 PMID: 531505 Document Number: 149894
Gastrointestinal diseases accounted for about 10% of all natural deaths in Finland in 1955-1973. Total mortality for these diseases decreased slightly among young and middle aged people in 1955-1973. This was mainly because mortality from ulcerative diseases of the stomach and the small intestine decreased continuously in practically all age groups and because the death rates of men and women from malignant neoplasms of the stomach decreased slightly but linearly at all ages. The autopsy rates increased highly significantly in all major categories of deaths between 1963 and 1973. In 1973 the autopsy rate for diseases of the digestive system (the 9th ICD [International Classification of Diseases] main group) was 67%. This rate exceeded highly significantly the mean autopsy rate recorded for all (38%) and all natural deaths (33%). The autopsy rate for gastrointestinal malignancies was 26%, which in turn was highly significantly lower than the average rate for all and all natural deaths. The highest single autopsy rates in 1973 were recorded for ulcer of the duodenum (87%), diseases of the pancreas (78%), cholelithiasis (77%), and chronic enteritis and ulcerative colitis (76%). The mortality statistics of Finland are obviously more reliable for the gastrointestinal diseases as a cause of death than in most other major categories of diseases.