Role of necropsy at neonatal and infantile ages

One of the aims of necropsy at neonatal and infantile ages is to identify the causes of death in this population, which is decreasing continuously because of the decay in natality seen in Italy as well as in other western countries over the last few decades. Analysis of 2410 autopsies performed on 92% of deaths in infants under one year of age occurring at the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome in 1974-89 shows a striking change in the principal causes of death in recent decades: Malformations, neonatal anoxia and immaturity have now become the main causes of death in the first year of life, while there is a very low rate of nutritional and infectious diseases, which predominated in the past. The autopsy results obtained indicate, however, that the policy of paediatric care in public health systems must be changed.