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In order to pursue the question of excess mortality due to chronic brain syndrome (CBS), 330 residents of a home for the aged were independently evaluated prior to admission by psychiatrists and by general physicians. Five years later, their medical records were searched to determine: 1) age on admission, 2) diagnosis of CBS on admission, 3) physical status on admission, and 4) if death had occurred, the age at death and the cause of death. Women outnumbered men by 3:1. Subjects with CBS outnumbered those without CBS by 2:1. A previous mortality study on 145 aged subjects at the same institution provided an excellent frame of reference for this investigation. Among the men there was no difference between the mortality rates for those with CBS and those without. Among the women a statistically significant difference in mortality was found between those with CBS and those without. Women with CBS and a "poor" physical status had the highest mortality rate. Those who initially had CBS died significantly sooner even if their admission physical status had been "good." Their mortality rate exceeded that for women with a "poor" physical status who did not have CBS. Bronchopneumonia caused death twice as often in subjects with CBS as in those without CBS, both among men and women. It is concluded that CBS per se is a significant factor in increasing mortality in the aged.

The five-year survival rates for a group of aged persons in a home and hospital for the aged showed that those with chronic brain syndrome (CBS) died at a much higher rate than those without CBS. Bronchopneumonia predominated as the cause of death among those with CBS but not among those without CBS. The mortality for 145 subjects was computed by relating the actual number of deaths to the expected (life tables) number of deaths as a function of age and sex of residents in the same institution. Differences, on the basis of presence or absence of CBS, were statistically significant for females irrespective of whether they were in relatively poor, or relatively good physical condition.