[Coincidence and biological association of diseases in autopsy findings]

It is known that in autopsies severe arteriosclerosis and myocardial infarction are less frequently associated with liver cirrhoses and carcinomas (except bronchial carcinoma) than with other cases. This does not mean that liver cirrhosis and carcinoma protect from vascular diseases, but the higher mortality rate if liver cirrhoses, carcinomas, and vascular diseases plays an essential role and most be taken into consideration, when conclusions concerning biological connections shall be drawn from autopsy-statistical examinations. In a certain age group, e.g. in males aged 50, in the autopsy material severe arterioscleroses are more frequent than in the living population of the same age, since the death rate (number of deceased patients as related to the total number of patients) is high for cases with circulatory diseases and vascular diseases, respectively. Liver cirrhoses, carcinomas (also with high death rates), and other diseases causing death come from the total living population with healthier (less changed) vessels and, therefore, of course they must be less frequently combined with severe arteriosclerosis and myocardial infarction than the total number of death cases, for which the distribution of arteriosclerosis in all death cases is essentially determined by the number of patients who died from the sequelae of a vascular disease. The correctness of this consideration is mathematically proved by a simple model example.