Introduction:

Acute respiratory disease is the most frequent entity in human life and acute respiratory diseases are among the causes of death. The autopsy is the best method of studying the patient and it is a strength of the Cuban health system.

Objective:

To determine the demographic and morphological characteristics found in the autopsies of the deceased with acute respiratory diseases.

Method:

A descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out of the deceased who underwent autopsy, in the period from 1986 to 2019. The variables age, sex, comorbidities, causes of death and clinical-pathological relationship were studied.

Results:

The population was made up of 390 autopsies with these conditions (2.5%). The 65 to 84 age group was the most affected in both sexes. In direct causes of death, bacterial bronchopneumonia predominated. The high coincidence in the direct causes of death and the discrepancies in the basic causes stand out. The trend line indicates the progressive increase in the course of the years studied.

Conclusions:

The demographic characteristics show that all age groups are affected, with a predominance of 65 to 84 years, in both sexes. The lung was the most affected organ in direct causes of death, with a predominance of bronchopneumonia, while the majority had acute respiratory disease as the basic cause of death, with a high discrepancy in its clinical-pathological relationship.

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