13.7% of 2012 deaths in Malta due to respiratory diseases

Some 13.7% of the deaths (adding up to 476) recorded in 2012, were a result of respiratory diseases, Eurostat figures have revealed.  Statistics for Malta reveal that of the 476 deaths, 38.7% were a result of lung cancer, 24.6% died of pneumonia and bronchitis accounted for 11.3% of the deaths locally, while a further 0.8% of the deaths were due to Asthma and some 24.6% were listed under other diseases.

On the other hand, the study shows that respiratory diseases including lung cancer, caused the death of 671,290 people in the European Union (13% of the total deaths in the area) in 2012.

“Among the various diseases of the respiratory system, lung cancer (which led to the deaths of 268,600 persons, or 40% of all deaths due to respiratory diseases), bronchitis and other chronic lower respiratory diseases (with 161,500 deaths, or 24%) and pneumonia (with 127,400 deaths, or 19%) were particularly prominent in the EU as causes of deaths,” a Eurostat statement points out.

Eurostat says that the highest share of deaths from diseases of the respiratory system in 2012, was recorded in the United Kingdom, with 20.3%, followed by Denmark with 18.4%, Ireland 18.2%, the Netherlands with 17.8% and Spain with 17.1%.

Figures show that contrastingly respiratory diseases accounted for less than 8% of all causes of death in Latvia (5.8%), Lithuania (6.4%), Bulgaria (7.0%) and Estonia (7.4%).

Statistics reveal that lung cancer accounts for the highest number of these deaths in all member states except Greece and Portugal, where the highest percentages are held by other categories (45%) and pneumonia (38.6%) respectively.

“More than half of deaths from diseases of the respiratory system are due to lung cancer in Estonia (60.4%), Latvia (58.0%), Hungary (56.7%), Croatia (56.4%), Poland (52.9%), Lithuania (52.0%) and Finland (51.7%),” the statement reads, adding that most of these Member States also recorded the highest shares of deaths from asthma.

Statistics reveal that pneumonia accounted for a large proportion of deaths due to respiratory diseases in Portugal (38.6%), Slovakia (31.5%) and Slovenia (29.3%), while it accounted for less than 10% of deaths from respiratory diseases in Hungary (5.0%), Greece (5.3%), Croatia and Finland (both 6.6%).

The figures also reveal that almost 60% (59.3%) of all deaths due to diseases of the respiratory system, were recorded in men throughout the EU, with the highest percentage being a result of lung cancer. The highest proportions of men with fatal respiratory diseases was recorded in the three EU Baltic Member States - Lithuania (75.3%), Latvia (75.2%) and Estonia (72.3%) - as well as in Bulgaria (70.7%), according to Eurostat.

Interestingly, the risk of dying from a disease of the respiratory system was recorded as higher for men than for women in all EU Member States, except Denmark. The risk was at least twice as high for men as for women in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia,
Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania, while at EU level, deaths from respiratory diseases accounted for 16.0% of all causes of deaths for men, and for 10.8% for women.