Death due to anaesthesia at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town--1956-1987. Part I. Incidence.

The data from a 30-year surveillance study of anaesthetic mortality associated with 0.75 million anaesthetics administered at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, from 1956 to 1987 are presented. Behind an overall mortality rate of 0.19 deaths per 1,000 anaesthetics attributable to anaesthesia, lies a 6-fold decrease in the incidence, computed quinquennially, from 0.43 per 1,000 anaesthetics in the first quinquennium to 0.07 per 1,000 anaesthetics in the last. The latter figure portrays a standard of safety in anaesthesia for the patient equal to anywhere in the world.