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Press release

Leading causes of death in Italy

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In 2012 there were 613,520 deaths in Italy and the age-standardized mortality rate was 92.2 per 10,000 residents. From 2007 through 2012 the age-standardized rate declined by 6%, while the number of deaths increased by 7% due to the population ageing. The top three causes, ischemic heart diseases (75,098 deaths), cerebrovascular diseases (61,255 deaths) and other heart diseases (48,384) accounted for 30% of all deaths in 2012.The malignant neoplasm (cancer) of trachea, bronchus and lung ranked fourth (33,538) as the top cause of cancer deaths in Italy. Moreover it was the second leading cause in men.
The number of deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer is increasing: in 2012 they ranked sixth and accounted for 4.3% of total deaths (26,559).The analysis of leading causes of death by gender showed that: hypertensive diseases, dementia and Alzheimer’s diseases were more frequent in the female population, while chronic lower respiratory diseases and malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung were more frequent in the male population.

Among gender-specific cancers, prostate cancer ranked tenth in men (7,282 deaths) and breast cancer ranked seventh in women (12,004), being the most common cause of female cancer deaths.The 793 deaths among kids aged 1-14 years, congenital malformations and leukemia were the top causes.In the 15-24 years age band, transport accidents were the leading cause, accounting for one-third of all deaths among young males (1,321) and one-fourth of all deaths among young females (464). Suicides ranked second with 179 and 44 deaths, respectively.Cancer was the most common cause of death for people aged 25-64 years.

Among the other leading causes an higher number of deaths due to external causes and cardiovascular diseases was observed for men compared to women.The number of deaths in the age band 65-84 years (157,847 in men, 124,258 in women) accounted for about 50% of overall deaths. The top leading cause were ischemic heart diseases for males and cerebrovascular diseases for females. The malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung was still the second leading cause in men.At older ages (85 years and over) the most frequent causes were the diseases of the circulatory system, especially heart diseases (including hypertensive heart diseases) and cerebrovascular diseases. At these ages a remarkable proportion of deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer was observed (7% of total deaths).The proportion of deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer, pneumonia and influenza in the North and Centre of Italy was higher than in the South, whereas an higher proportion of diabetes deaths was observed in the South.

For information:

Servizio Sanità, salute ed assistenza
Analisi della mortalità e classificazioni nosologiche

Luisa Frova
frova@istat.it
Ph. +39 06 4673.7382
Enrico Grande
grande@istat.it

Reference period: Year 2012

Date of Issue: 03 December 2014

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