Necropsy Incidence of Tuberculosis in a Hospital for the Mentally Ill

¹ The Department of Pathology, Pittsburgh City Home and Hospitals, Mayview, Pennsylvania, and the Department of Pathology, Memorial Hospital, Danville, Virginia.

1) Active tuberculosis was found in a high percentage of mental and general hospital deaths in a series of 634 consecutive necropsies in a large city institution. Active tuberculosis was noted in 52 of 245 necropsies on mental patients and in 59 of 389 necropsies on general hospital patients.

2) The percentage of these patients with a clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis was not high. Among the mental group only 28 out of 52 were diagnosed before death and 11 of these 28 were diagnosed only within the month prior to death.

3) Statistics on the incidence of tuberculosis as the primary cause of death in these patients are presented. Tuberculosis was found to be the primary cause of death in 15.9 per cent of the mental patients and 10.5 per cent of the general hospital patients. These necropsy statistics substantiate current reports in the literature concerning the high death rate from tuberculosis in mental institutions. The study emphasizes the need for continued effort to attain proper diagnostic and preventive measures in such institutions.