ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2020
COVID-19 Deaths: Are We Sure It Is Pneumonia? Please, Autopsy, Autopsy, Autopsy!
Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Postmortem Findings Associated With SARS-CoV-2: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.The American journal of surgical pathology · 2021Pooled it
- Autopsy Tool in Unknown Diseases: The Experience with Coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2).Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2021Pooled it
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on forensic pathology services in Limpopo province, South Africa.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2025Article
- Intermediate impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on surgical glaucoma cases in Quebec, Canada: insights from a tertiary eye center.International journal of ophthalmology · 2025Article
- Burnout and Stress in Forensic Science Jobs: A Systematic Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Morphological and functional findings in COVID-19 lung disease as compared to Pneumonia, ARDS, and High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema.Respiratory physiology & neurobiology · 2023Review
- Pharmacological approaches to pulmonary fibrosis following COVID-19.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Review
- Intravitreal Injections during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Northern Italy: An Innovative Approach for a High Quality and Safe Treatment.European journal of ophthalmology · 2022Observational
- High viral loads: what drives fatal cases of COVID-19 in vaccinees? - an autopsy study.Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc · 2022Article
- Article
- COVID-19 autopsies of Istanbul.Irish journal of medical science · 2022Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Practice of Forensic Medicine: An Overview.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The Risk of COVID-19 Infection in Prisons and Prevention Strategies: A Systematic Review and a New Strategic Protocol of Prevention.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Impact of COVID-19 on glaucoma management: A review.Frontiers in ophthalmology · 2022Review
- Pathological findings in COVID-19: A conventional autopsy-based study from India.The Indian journal of medical research · 2022Article
- Survey on COVID-19-related mortality associated with occupational infection during the first phase of the pandemic: A systematic review.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2022Article
- COVID UPDATE: What is the truth?Surgical neurology international · 2022Article
- Autopsy Findings and Causality Relationship between Death and COVID-19 Vaccination: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling Findings in 12 Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The current outbreak of COVID-19 severe respiratory disease, which started in Wuhan, China, is an ongoing challenge, and a major threat to public health that requires surveillance, prompt diagnosis, and research efforts to understand this emergent pathogen and to develop an effective response. Due to the scientific community's efforts, there is an increasing body of published studies describing the virus' biology, its transmission and diagnosis, its clinical features, its radiological findings, and the development of candidate therapeutics and vaccines. Despite the decline in postmortem examination rate, autopsy remains the gold standard to determine why and how death happens. Defining the pathophysiology of death is not only limited to forensic considerations; it may also provide useful clinical and epidemiologic insights. Selective approaches to postmortem diagnosis, such as limited postmortem sampling over full autopsy, can also be useful in the control of disease outbreaks and provide valuable knowledge for managing appropriate control measures. In this scenario, we strongly recommend performing full autopsies on patients who died with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection, particularly in the presence of several comorbidities. Only by working with a complete set of histological samples obtained through autopsy can one ascertain the exact cause(s) of death, optimize clinical management, and assist clinicians in pointing out a timely and effective treatment to reduce mortality. Death can teach us not only about the disease, it might also help with its prevention and, above all, treatment.
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Registered trials
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