Discrepancy of the Cause of Death in Autopsy Cases of Cardiovascular Disease with a Focus on Cause of Death Statistics

Determining an individual’s cause of death (COD) is a difficult, yet very important task. On an individual level, determining the COD represents the final decision of death, whereas from a social perspective, determining the COD in individual cases can provide basic data for establishing social policies concerning public health and social safety. Hospital autopsy rates are decreasing worldwide, but autopsies remain useful [1]. Most autopsies performed in Korea are forensic autopsies and the autopsy rate in Korea is very low [2]. An autopsy is recognized as the gold standard procedure for investigating death, including the determination of COD [3]. Therefore, it is very difficult for countries with low autopsy rates, such as Korea, to establish accurate Korean J Leg Med 2017;41:100-106 https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2017.41.4.100