PSA: Heart diseases continue to lead major causes of death in PH

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MANILA, Philippines — The number of deaths recorded from January to November 2022 dropped by 31.6 percent compared to the same period in 2021, with ischemic heart diseases continuing to lead the top causes of death in the country, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Based on the data released by the PSA on Wednesday, a total of 563,465 deaths were recorded in the country during the 10-month period last year, which is 31.6 percent below the 823,227 recorded deaths during the same period in 2021.

Meanwhile, the top three leading causes of deaths in the Philippines were still non-communicable diseases, specifically, ischaemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and neoplasms.

From January to November of 2022, the PSA said ischemic heart diseases accounted for 103,628 deaths or 18.4 percent of the total deaths in the country; while cerebrovascular diseases came in second with 57,411 deaths (10.2 percent); neoplasms placed third accounting for 57,354 cases (almost tying with cerebrovascular diseases at 10.2 percent share).

The PSA also noted a “substantial decrease” in deaths due to COVID-19 compared to the same period in 2021 where COVID-19 with virus identified became the third leading cause of death.

According to the PSA, COVID-19 placed 11th in 2022, accounting for only 11,377 cases or 2.0 percent of the total deaths from January to November 2022.

“This shows a decline of -85.6 percent from the 111,599 deaths due to COVID-19 that were registered in the same period in 2021,” the PSA noted.

Meanwhile, registered deaths due to COVID-19 with virus not identified accounted for 4,703 or 0.8 percent of the total deaths, down from 8th in 2021 to 22nd as the leading cause of death in the country in 2022.

However, the PSA noted that four regions still reported more than a thousand deaths due to COVID-19 during this period, namely, Metro Manila with 3,916 deaths of 24.4 percent of the total, Calabarzon with 2,667 deaths (16.6 percent), Central Luzon with 2,221 deaths (13.8 percent) and Western Visayas with 1,112 deaths (6.9 percent).

In Metro Manila, Quezon City reported the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 at 766 deaths or 19.6 percent of the total COVID-19 deaths in the region,  followed by the cities of Manila and Pasig with 569 and 432 COVID-19 deaths, respectively.

The rest of the Top 10 leading causes of deaths for 2022 are the following:

1. Ischemic heart diseases
2. Cerebrovascular diseases
3. Neoplasms
4. Diabetes mellitus
5. Hypertensive diseases
6. Pneumonia
7. Chronic lower respiratory diseases
8. Other heart diseases
9. Remainder of diseases of the genitourinary system
10. Respiratory tuberculosis

—Maria Liezl Projella, Inquirer.net trainee

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