Abstract: Objective Analysis of the clinical characteristics of aortic dissection and to discuss its risk factors for death. Methods Retrospective analysis of the aortic dissection cases in our hospital form 2006 to 2010, using Logistic regression analysis of the relationship between gender, age, relevant clinical characteristics and hospital mortality of aortic dissection. Results The total mortality was 17.5% during hospitalization, in-hospital mortality of DeBakey typeⅠ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ are 7/16（43.8%）,2/8（25.0%）, 2/39（5.1%）, respectively; Logistic regression analysis revealed that pericardial effusion (P=0.001) is a risk factor predicting the death of aortic dissection. Conclusion Pericardial effusion is a independent risk factor for aortic dissection.

Key words: Aortic dissection, Risk factor, clinical characteristics, prognosis