[Descriptive epidemiology from autopsies at the Ospedale Maggiore di Milano from 1986 to 1987].

Descriptive epidemiology of autopsies performed at Ospedale Maggiore in Milan 1986-87. With the aim of setting up an autopsy database we have processed and stored data relating to diagnoses from autopsies performed over the two-year period 1986-1987 at Ospedale Maggiore in Milan. We used a program developed on the basis of indications provided by a group of pathologists working in various centres in Italy. The program is designed to include the storage of personal details, clinical diagnoses, autopsy diagnoses, and a semi-automatic procedure for apposition of SNOMED codes. Using this stored material, statistical studies have been carried out on the sample of autopsy subjects and the incidence of the various types of pathology; also, a comparative evaluation has been made between the clinical diagnoses of the cause of death and those derived from autopsy. It appears that clinicians tend to overdiagnose neoplastic diseases and underestimate the significance of cardiocirculatory pathologies. Our data confirm that in spite of the advances in diagnostic technology, autopsy maintains its value and importance as a diagnostic tool, especially for its quality-control role in the public health field; moreover it can also play a significant part in epidemiological studies.