Heart disease remains the top killer in Malaysia

 

Heart disease accounted for 17% of deaths in Malaysia in 2020. (Freepik pic)

PETALING JAYA: Heart disease remains the principal cause of death in Malaysia, increasing from 11.6% of all medically certified deaths in 2000 to 17% in 2020.

Heart disease has been the principal cause of death in Malaysia for the past two decades, chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said.

In a statement on the causes of death in the country, Uzir said there were 18,515 deaths due to ischaemic heart disease last year – 12,707 (68.6%) for males, and 5,808 (31.4%) for females. It is the main cause of death for those aged between 41 and 59 (20%) and also 60 years and above (18%).

Heart disease also remains the principal cause of death for all the major ethnic groups – 16.6% for Bumiputeras, followed by 16% Chinese and 22.8% Indians.

“At the Asean level, ischemic heart disease was also the principal cause of death for Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. A similar trend was also observed in developed countries such as the US, Japan, the UK and Australia,” he said.

In total, there were 166,507 deaths recorded in 2020, of which 109,155 (65.6%) were medically certified deaths and 57,352 (34.3%) non-medically certified.

Pneumonia was the second highest cause of death at 11.4% followed by cerebrovascular disease (8.3%), transport accidents (3.8%) and malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung (2.9%).

Statistics also show that deaths caused by cancer had spiked to 15.5% in 2020, from 11.6% in 2000.

Uzir said deaths due to Covid-19 were the newest cause of deaths recorded in 2020 with 471 or 0.3% of the total 166,507 deaths.

“Sabah registered the highest number of deaths due to Covid-19 with 265 while Terengganu registered the lowest with only one death,” he said. - FMT