Filenews 9 May 2022
The first preliminary report of causes of death for the year 2020 and detailed data on the most common causes of death between the sexes in Cyprus, were released today by the Ministry of Health.
For 2020, the main causes of death were cardiovascular diseases with a percentage of 28%, malignant neoplasms with a percentage of 23%, diseases of the respiratory system (8%) and neuropsychiatric conditions (8%), diabetes mellitus (6%), unclear causes (4%), involuntary injuries (4%), diseases of the genitourinary system 4% and so on.
See in detail in the table:
Here's a summary of results:
In 2020, there were 6579 deaths. This includes all deaths that occurred in Cyprus (permanent residents of Cyprus and visitors) and deaths of permanent residents of Cyprus that occurred abroad during the reporting year. • Of the 6579 deaths, 53% concern men (n=3487) and 47% concern women (n=3092).
• 99% (n=6532) of the total number of deaths concerns permanent residents of the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. The remaining 1% concerns deaths of residents abroad (n=47).
• 37% (n=2412) of the total number of deaths are for people aged 85 years and over, 18% (n=1185) for people aged 80-84 years, for 12% (n=822) for people aged 75-79 years, for 10% (n=672) for people aged 70-74 years. Smaller percentages are followed by the rest of the age groups.
• The classification of causes of death based on the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) 1 of the World Health Organization, concerns three groups:
− Group I: Infectious diseases, diseases of the mother, perinatal period and nutritional conditions (Communicable, maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions)
− Group II: Non-Communicable diseases
- Group III: Injuries
The highest percentage of deaths concerns Group II (85%, n=5592), followed by Group III (5%, n=302) and finally Group I (4%, n=295).
4% concern unclear causes of death (n=259) and a percentage of 2% (n=131) concern deaths with the final cause of COVID-19.
Most common causes of death
• Men: The most common causes of death in men (in descending order) are: ischemic heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes mellitus, stroke, Alzheimer's and dementia, chronic respiratory lung disease, hypertensive heart disease, COVID19, kidney disease, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, lymphoma and multiple myeloma, leukaemia, car accidents.
• Women: The most common causes of death in women (in descending order) are: ischemic heart disease, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, diabetes mellitus, stroke, hypertensive heart disease, malignant breast neoplasm, kidney disease, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, diseases of the lower respiratory tract, COVID19, chronic respiratory pulmonary disease, leukemia.
Accidents
• Unintentional accidents (n=259) account for the largest percentage (85%) of deaths due to external causes. One in five accidental accident deaths is due to transport accidents (n=51, 20%) 2, followed by accidental falls (n=50, 19%)3.
• As far as accidents with intent are concerned, suicides (n=31,10% of the total number of deaths from external causes) and murders (n=14.5%) are included, among others.
