Abstract
In order to investigate factors affecting postmortem lung cultures in the aged, 90 autopsies were made during the period from July 1979 to September 1982. The following results were obtained:
1) Cerebral vascular disease was the most frequent underlying disease, and was present in 50% of 54 culture-positive patients, followed by cancer and cardiac failure (20% each).
2) The elapsed time between death and postmortem examination had no significant effect on the incidence of positive cultures.
3) The incidence of positive cultures in cases with an activities of daily living (ADL) score of 0 to 5 was significantly higher than that of cases with an ADL score of 6 to 15.
4) The incidence of positive cultures in cases of total protein less than 6.0g/dl was significantly higher than that of cases of 6.0g/dl or more total protein.
5) Antibiotic therapy given prior to death influenced both the percentages of cases with positive cultures and the bacterial amount isolated postmortem.
6) The incidence of positive cultures according to the cause of death was 81% in pneumonia, 54% in cancer, 50% in cerebral vascular disease, 29% in cardiac failure, and 50% in others.
