PSA: Heart diseases still top cause of deaths in PH in 2020
Heart diseases remained the leading cause of deaths in the country in 2020, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Data released by the PSA on Tuesday, March 16, showed that the top three causes of death in the country last year were ischaemic heart diseases, neoplasms, and cerebrovascular diseases.
It noted that these were also the leading causes of death in 2019.
PSA said ischaemic heart diseases were still the leading cause of death in 2020, with 99,700 deaths or 17.3 percent of the total deaths, an increase of about 2.3 percent from the 97,500 deaths in 2019.
On the other hand, neoplasms, commonly known as “cancer”, came in second with 62,300 deaths, which is equivalent to 10.8 percent of the total number of nationwide deaths.
Meanwhile, cerebrovascular diseases were the third leading cause which accounted for 59,700 deaths or 10.4 percent of the total tally.
COVID-19 ranks among top causes of death in 2020
PSA said 27,967 deaths or 4.9 percent of the total registered deaths in 2020 were due to COVID-19.
“By classification, COVID-19 with virus not identified was the seventh leading cause of death in the country with 19.8 thousand cases or 3.4 percent of the total deaths in 2020,” the agency said.
“Meanwhile, registered deaths due to COVID-19 with virus identified accounted for 8.2 thousand or 1.4 percent of the total deaths in 2020, pushing its rank to number 16,” it added.
The PSA noted that figures pertaining for deaths due to COVID-19, may differ from the those reported by the Department of Health (DOH).
It explained that their data were based on the descriptions written on the medical certificate portion of death certificates, while the data from the DOH were collected through a surveillance system.
“Furthermore, COVID-19 deaths in this release refer to both confirmed and probable cases as of registration, whereas figures released by DOH were deaths from confirmed cases only,” it added.
Metro Manila logs most COVID-19 deaths
The PSA said the National Capital Region (NCR) registered the most number of deaths due to COVID-19 with 12,582 or 45 percent of the total COVID-19 deaths in the country.
The neighboring region of Calabarzon ranked second with 6,914 deaths (24.7 percent), while Central Luzon came in third with 2,576 deaths (9.2 percent).
On the other hand, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had the least number of registered COVID-19 deaths with only 37 or 0.1 percent of the total.
Quezon City records most COVID-19 deaths in NCR
Quezon City, the most populated locality in the metropolis, had the most number of deaths due to COVID-19 in NCR, with 2,566 deaths or 20.4 percent of the total COVID-19 deaths in the region.
This was followed by the cities of Manila and Pasig with 1,810 (14.4 percent) and 1,447 (11.5 percent) COVID-19 deaths, respectively, PSA said.