Autopsy Findings of 15,823 Natural Deaths in Accra, Ghana

Autopsy was performed on 15,823 dead bodies in Accra, Ghana, who died of natural causes during 1981–1990. Among the 11,531 adults, maximum died of Respiratory causes (22.64%) followed by causes in the Central Nervous system (19.81%), Cardio–vascular system (14.38%), Alimentary system (19.53%), Hepato–billary system (7.75%) and Urinary system (7.42%). The maximum cause or deaths among 2,476 children was anaemias (34.57%) which includes malaria, sickle cell disease and others, followed by the causes in the Respiratory (22.8G%), Alimentary (18.58%) and Central Nervous Systems (8.64%). The important causes of deaths among 1,816 Infants were Respiratory (35.79%), Alimentary (16.80%) and CNS (12.39%) diseases. The leading causes of deaths among adults were CVA (13.93%), Lobar pneumonia (10.03%) and Hypertensive heart disease (7.54%). The Important causes of deaths among the children were Malaria (18.46%), Bronchopneumonia (11.95%) and sickle cell disease (6.34%), while among the infants the leading causes were Bronchopneumonia (25.26%), Gastro-enteritis (8.20%), Congenital heart diseases (6.72%), and Malaria (7.05%). The leading malignant cause of death among the adults was Hepatoma (1.93%), Cancer head of the pancreas (0.78%), Brain tumour (0.66%), Cancer prostate (0.55%) and Cancer stomach (0.54%). Among the children, malignant causes accounted for 2.42%, while only one infant died of Hepatoblastoma.