[Mortality in the under-65 years of age in a teaching internal medicine service]

The reports of patients under 65 years of age who died during the period 1982 to 1988 at an Internal Medicine Department in a University Hospital were analysed in a transversal study. There were 927 deaths, 815 being evaluable, and 160 (19.63%) of the patients were under 65 years old. The group in question had multiple diseases and admissions (15.72%). The most frequent diseases observed were neoplasia (31.64%), cirrhosis (17.08), ischemic cerebrovascular disease (11.39%), pneumonia (11.39%) and renal insufficiency (11.39%). Terminology such as cardio-respiratory arrest and "probably, possible or not confirmed" were found in 30.37% of the reports.