|
HEART
disease remains the major culprit for causing the deaths
of majority of Filipinos, according to the latest data
released by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
NSO data
show that in 2004, the latest available, heart diseases
killed 70,861 people or accounted for 17.6 percent of
the total 403,191 deaths. Of this total, the top 10
diseases killed 284,037.
The NSO
said the top nine diseases causing death in the
Philippines are heart diseases; cerebrovascular
diseases, killing 43,077; malignant neoplasms, 40,524;
pneumonia, 32,098; tuberculosis, 25,870; chronic lower
respiratory diseases 18,975; diabetes mellitus, 16,552;
certain conditions originating in the prenatal period,
12,646; and kidney diseases, 10,254.
There
were more men who died of diseases than women also
during 2004. Of the total number of deaths, 237,750 were
men and 165,441 were women.
“For
every 100 female deaths, there were 144 deaths among
males. The median age at death was 58 years for males
and 67 years for females,” the NSO said in a statement.
Death
occurrence was lowest among men aged 10 to 14 years,
with only 2,747 or 0.7 percent of total deaths. Records
also show the highest number of deaths was among those
aged 85 years and over, with 38,205 or 9.5 percent of
the total deaths in 2004. Women in this age group
numbered 23,712, or 62.1 percent.
Deaths
in the National Capital Region was highest with 58,513,
or 14.5 percent of the total—possibly because of its
huge population and illness-causing factors like
pollution.
The
Calabarzon area had 55,813 (13.8 percent) and Central
Luzon, 46,858 (11.6 percent) to rank second and third,
respectively. The rest of the regions contributed less
than 10 percent each to the total number of recorded
deaths.
The
crude death rate (CDR), or the number of deaths per
thousand population, was computed at 4.9. men and 5.7
women. Ilocos posted the highest CDR with an average of
6.6 deaths per thousand population; and the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao with the lowest CDR with 1.0
death average per thousand population.
Curiously, the most death reports are gathered in the
month of January—a cold month—1,148 deaths per day
followed by August—a very hot month—with 1,145.
In
contrast, February had the least number of deaths with
an average of 1,076 deaths daily followed by March with
1,054. |
