NEW data has revealed Andalucia’s biggest killers and shown that it is still chronic diseases that send most people to the morgue.
Most of these fatal illnesses are associated with old age, according to the official INE data.
The lead cause of death in all of Andalucia’s eight provinces were those related to heart health.
Heart attacks, insufficient cardiac operation and strokes lead to the majority of deaths in the larger provinces of Sevilla and Malaga and in those with lower populations like Jaen or Huelva.
Many of these causes are linked to old age and chronic risk factors like diabetes.
The second most common cause is tumours with lung cancer proving the most lethal, this form of the disease is closely followed by colon, pancreas and breast cancer.
In third place are respiratory illnesses – pneumonia, insufficient breathing, respiratory failure and chronic lower respiratory tract diseases continue to cause thousands of deaths, particularly for the elderly.
Other illnesses commonly associated with old age have increasingly caused deaths in recent years.
These neurodegenerative diseases, like dementia, have become prominent in Malaga, Cadiz and Sevilla with diabetes mellitus being another persistent cause.
When diabetes causes death it however usually appears alongside cardiovascular or kidney problems.
In the entire region accidents, falls, suicides or drowning are present as causes of deaths but are much further down the table than the aforementioned illnesses.
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