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Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015

BACKGROUND: The autopsy is the medical examination of a deceased person that mainly provides information on the cause and manner of death. Two types are conducted in Korea: clinical and legal, depending on its purpose. Despite this procedure's importance, autopsy rates have been decreasing worl...

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Autores principales: Park, Jong-Pil, Kim, Se Hoon, Lee, Sookyoung, Yoo, Seong Ho
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6900410/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31808323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2019.34.e301
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author Park, Jong-Pil
Kim, Se Hoon
Lee, Sookyoung
Yoo, Seong Ho
author_facet Park, Jong-Pil
Kim, Se Hoon
Lee, Sookyoung
Yoo, Seong Ho
author_sort Park, Jong-Pil
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The autopsy is the medical examination of a deceased person that mainly provides information on the cause and manner of death. Two types are conducted in Korea: clinical and legal, depending on its purpose. Despite this procedure's importance, autopsy rates have been decreasing worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the nationwide autopsy rate in Korea and compare it with that in other countries. METHODS: We collected data of autopsies performed between 2001 and 2015 by searching previously published literature on autopsy statistics and by requesting data from the relevant institutions. We calculated the autopsy rate by using mortality data from Statistics Korea; furthermore, we investigated the type of autopsy performed by institution as well as by geographical region. RESULTS: The total autopsy rate in Korea increased from 2.16% in 2001 to 2.60% in 2015. In terms of autopsy types, however, clinical autopsy rates decreased from 0.17% in 2001 to 0.03% in 2015, while legal autopsy rates increased from 1.99% to 2.57% during the same period. Moreover, the clinical autopsy rate tended to decrease throughout the period, while the legal autopsy rate fluctuated between 2001 and 2010 but steadily increased thereafter. CONCLUSION: The autopsy rate in Korea is lower compared to that of the advanced countries. These findings implicate the need for nationwide policy to promote both clinical and legal autopsy, which remain crucial parts of medical science and public health.
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spelling pubmed-69004102019-12-11 Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015 Park, Jong-Pil Kim, Se Hoon Lee, Sookyoung Yoo, Seong Ho J Korean Med Sci Original Article BACKGROUND: The autopsy is the medical examination of a deceased person that mainly provides information on the cause and manner of death. Two types are conducted in Korea: clinical and legal, depending on its purpose. Despite this procedure's importance, autopsy rates have been decreasing worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the nationwide autopsy rate in Korea and compare it with that in other countries. METHODS: We collected data of autopsies performed between 2001 and 2015 by searching previously published literature on autopsy statistics and by requesting data from the relevant institutions. We calculated the autopsy rate by using mortality data from Statistics Korea; furthermore, we investigated the type of autopsy performed by institution as well as by geographical region. RESULTS: The total autopsy rate in Korea increased from 2.16% in 2001 to 2.60% in 2015. In terms of autopsy types, however, clinical autopsy rates decreased from 0.17% in 2001 to 0.03% in 2015, while legal autopsy rates increased from 1.99% to 2.57% during the same period. Moreover, the clinical autopsy rate tended to decrease throughout the period, while the legal autopsy rate fluctuated between 2001 and 2010 but steadily increased thereafter. CONCLUSION: The autopsy rate in Korea is lower compared to that of the advanced countries. These findings implicate the need for nationwide policy to promote both clinical and legal autopsy, which remain crucial parts of medical science and public health. The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 2019-11-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6900410/ /pubmed/31808323 http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2019.34.e301 Text en © 2019 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Park, Jong-Pil
Kim, Se Hoon
Lee, Sookyoung
Yoo, Seong Ho
Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015
title Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015
title_full Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015
title_fullStr Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015
title_full_unstemmed Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015
title_short Changes in Clinical and Legal Autopsy Rates in Korea from 2001 to 2015
title_sort changes in clinical and legal autopsy rates in korea from 2001 to 2015
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6900410/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31808323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2019.34.e301
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