ABSTRACT
Introduction: Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) has been declared as pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. As of 28 November 2021, there were more than 260 million cases and nearly 5.2 million deaths caused by COVID-19. The most affected system by COVID-19 infection was the respiratory system although several other studies suggested multi-organ involvement with pathophysiology that was not clearly understood. Autopsy findings were beneficial to researchers to determine the mechanism behind these organ failures. The objective of this review was to summarize the autopsy findings related to COVID-19 death. Method: Online literature search was conducted via online databases such as Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar. The keywords inputted during the search were "post-mortem", "autopsy" and "COVID-19" in title, abstract and keywords. The inclusion criteria were the topic related with the title of this review, published in 2020-2021, have full text available and in English language. Any articles that were not related, duplicated studies, review articles including systematic review and meta-analysis and in other languages were excluded. Results: A total of 20 articles were included in this review. The articles reviewed were mostly case reports and case series while others were case-control and cohort study ranging from one to 348 cases. Majority were originated from the United States of America (USA). Conclusion: The most frequent system described in autopsy findings in COVID-19 death was the respiratory system, with the most common histological finding of diffuse alveolar damage (DAD). Majority of the findings of other organs were related to chronic diseases.
ABSTRACT
The prevalence of ischaemic heart disease with associated cardiomegaly and other chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus has increased in Malaysia in recent years. As the contribution to mortality from ischaemic heart disease/cardiomegaly in different ethnic populations is unclear, a three year (January 2013-December 2015) retrospective study of autopsy cases was undertaken at the Department of Forensic Pathology, University Malaya Medical Centre. There were 80 cases with lethal ischaemic heart diseases/cardiomegaly. The age range was 30-69 years (mean 50.19 years) with a male to female ratio of 39:01. The most vulnerable age was 50-59 years accounting for 38.75% of cases. Malays accounted for 15% of cases, Indians for 32.5% and Chinese for 36.25%. Although in 35 cases (43.75%) there was a history suggestive of ischaemic heart disease, the remaining 45 cases (56.25%) were apparently healthy until the terminal collapse. It appears that Indian males in the 50-59 year age range are most at risk for lethal cardiac events in this population, most often with no preceding symptoms or signs. The study demonstrates the value of studying subpopulations for disease risk rather than relying on accrued general population data.
