Abstract
Background and objective
Despite the importance of autopsies for diagnosing disease and determining cause of
death, autopsy rates are decreasing in many countries. Furthermore, autopsy rates
are often not distributed randomly between different regions within countries. In
this study we analyzed an apparent nonrandom spatial distribution of autopsy rates
in Austria for the period 1991–2000. We tested the new hypothesis that the rate of
autopsies performed on people who die at home depends on the distance from the residence
to the hospital or forensic institute where autopsies are performed.
Methods
Data were extracted from the official mortality records for the years 1991–2000. Only
persons who deceased in private residences were included. A logistic regression model
was used.
Results
Even controlling for variability in sex, age, date of death, and family status, the
effect of distance significantly implied lower autopsy rates in the alpine parts of
Austria.
Conclusions
This effect of distance may lead to artificially nonrandom mortality patterns in disease
maps. As a consequence, the possibility of hypothesizing incorrect health risks to
explain nonrandom mortality patterns increases.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
February 21,
2003
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
