This case control observation was based on 88 autopsies of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) along with three control diseases (550 craniocervical injuries, 403 myocardial infarctions and 440 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis) retrieved from the annual records of autopsies in Japan for 1964–1978. Recorded pathological findings, excluding those of the stated diseases, their treatments, agonal and other irrelevant changes, were classified and compared by age and sex. No increase was observed over control diseases in the frequency of nonneoplastic complications in CJD, regardless of the classification made from an etiological, functional, topographical or morphological point of view. The number of neoplasms was also comparable among these diseases. The frequency of organ resections was increased. There was little evidence supporting the idea that CJD is associated with other disorders recognizable at autopsy, excluding organ resection