Alzheimer's disease and mixed pathologies as a hidden contributor to fatal hypothermia: A large-scale forensic autopsy-based study.

We identified 168 cases (75 female and 93 male patients) of fatal hypothermia and examined the clinical and neuropathological characteristics in these cases.

Cognitive impairment (CI) was identified in 39% of cases with available clinical histories, and approximately half of these cases were presumed to have developed hypothermia while wandering, based on clinical history and the circumstances of discovery.