During a 5-year period (1981 through 1985), 586 of 46,512 (1.26%) deaths in New Mexico had pulmonary embolism (PE) listed on the death certificate. The frequency of death due to PE was mentioned more frequently in the autopsied than in the non-autopsied component of the study (2.4% v 1.1%). This observation, together with published data on the accuracy of clinical diagnostics among persons dying with autopsy-documented PE, suggests that the frequency of death due to this disease is considerably higher than previously thought. Among autopsied persons who died of PE, risk factors and associated diseases are not appreciably different for those who die in or out of the hospital. Important associations with respect to persons dying of PE include male gender, advanced age, serious medical or surgical disease, immobilization, and trauma.