Mortalidad por trauma craneoencefálico en el adulto mayor

background: the cranioencephalic trauma is the most frequent neurosurgical disease in older adult. the 95% of the aged with serious cranioencephalic trauma die. objective: to characterize the mortality of the cranioencephalic trauma in the old man to know its behavior and to take health actions ahead to modify this situation. method: a descriptive study of all the old men who died by cranioencephalic trauma submited to medico-legal autopsy at amalia simoni provincial hospital of camagüey was performed from january 2003 to january 2006. the sample was constituted by 71 deceaseds. descriptive statistic methods for data processing were applied. results: masculine sex and the group of 60 to 69 years prevailed. traffic accidents were the main cause of the cranioencephalic trauma. the 90% suffered serious cranioencephalic trauma and it was the severe encephalic contusion accompanied by cerebral edema the most frequent cause of death. conclusions: the mortality for cranioencephalic trauma in the old man is determined by the severity of the trauma and for the development of complications like cerebral edema and respiratory sepsis.