COVID 4th leading cause of death, says PSA

FILE PHOTO: A health worker walks around to check on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients admitted in the chapel of Quezon City General Hospital turned into a COVID-19 ward amid rising infections, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, August 20, 2021. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

After heart and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer, COVID-19 is the fourth leading cause of death, according to data gathered by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) this year, save for the last quarter.

The numbers as of end-September are more than double the coronavirus fatalities last year.

Preliminary data by the PSA showed that, from January to September, deaths due to COVID-19 that are classified as “virus identified” reached 34,361, climbing 468.7 percent from 6,042 a year ago.

The data also included COVID-19 deaths classified as “virus not identified,” which numbered 16,397, up 1.1 percent from the 16,219 in the first nine months of 2020.

Figures may differ

National Statistician Dennis Mapa had explained earlier that “virus not identified” COVID-19 deaths are those that had not been reported by the Department of Health (DOH) in its daily tally.

“Figures specifically for deaths due to COVID-19 may differ from [those] released by the DOH because the [PSA’s] figures were obtained from the certificates of death, particularly the descriptions written on the medical certificate portion therein as reviewed by the health officer of the local government unit concerned. On the other hand, the figures released by the DOH were obtained through a surveillance system,” the PSA explained.

The fatalities, whether or not identified as caused by COVID-19 in the death certificates, total 50,758.

This death toll jumped 128 percent from 22,261 a year ago and accounted for 10.3 percent of registered deaths in the country as of September.

Top causes of deaths

A total of 493,602 deaths were registered nationwide during the nine-month period, 8.6-percent higher than 454,454 a year ago.

The top three causes of deaths in the country which exceeded COVID-19’s death toll were ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and cancer, the PSA said.

Deaths caused by ischemic heart diseases rose 18.7 percent to 91,152, while those who died due to cerebrovascular diseases increased 3.6 percent to 49,063.

But deaths attributed to cancers declined 14.7 percent to 42,633.

Diabetes followed COVID-19 as the fifth biggest cause of death with 32,057, up 9.7 percent compared with the previous year’s fatalities.

While COVID-19 cases and deaths were on the rise, the PSA noted that “registered deaths attributed to pneumonia recorded a substantial decline, from 27,426 in January to September 2020 to 22,158 in the same period in 2021,” or a 19.2-percent drop.

“Similarly, deaths due to respiratory tuberculosis decreased by 19.1 percent during the same period in 2021 [from 14,353 in 2020 to 11,610 in 2021]. Meanwhile, deaths due to chronic lower respiratory diseases showed a decrease of 4.4 percent during the same period [from 15,716 in 2020 to 15,018 in 2021],” the PSA added.