KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Ischaemic heart diseases, have become the key cause of death for Malaysians in 2022, official data showed, today.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), said in a statement that, there were 206,525 deaths recorded in Malaysia in 2022, of which 126,268 (61.1 percent) were medically certified deaths and 80,257 (38.9 percent) were non-medically certified deaths.
Ischaemic heart diseases were the principal cause of death in 2022, with 20,322 deaths or 16.1 percent of the medically certified deaths.
It is noted that Ischaemic heart diseases continued as the principal cause of death for the past two decades, except in 2021 when COVID-19 topped the list.
There were 13,817 (18.2 percent) deaths caused by Ischaemic heart diseases for males, while pneumonia was the principal cause of death for females at 7,201 (14.3 percent).
Meanwhile, the principal causes of death for the population aged 41-59 years and 60 years and over were Ischaemic heart diseases, at 20 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively.
Other than that, transport accidents were the principal causes of death for the population aged 15-40 years (19.2 percent) while pneumonia was the principal cause of death for the population aged 0-14 years (four percent).
Pneumonia was the second-highest cause of death with 13.3 percent. This was followed by cerebrovascular diseases (7.2 percent), COVID-19 infection (4.2 percent) and transport accidents (3.2 percent).
Apart from the five principal causes of death, statistics showed that deaths caused by cancer have increased since 2001 from 5,231 deaths to 15,901 deaths in 2022.
According to the DOSM, unhealthy lifestyle practices and diet, are among the contributors to death due to Ischaemic heart diseases, nowadays.
Major risk factors include cigarette smoking, high cholesterol level, high blood pressure, diabetes and age, said the DOSM. Additionally, there are other contributing factors, such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle and family history.
In addition to Ischaemic heart diseases, the DOSM said, some other non-communicable diseases, such as cerebrovascular diseases, hypertensive diseases and diabetes mellitus, were also caused by unhealthy lifestyle practices and diet.
However, for pneumonia, which was the second principal cause of death in Malaysia, it said, it is usually caused by bacterial infection, virus, but sometimes it could be due to fungus and parasites.– NNN-BERNAMA