Study reveals top causes of deaths in the Philippines in 2020; suicide cases increase amid the pandemic

A study made by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shed light on the top causes of deaths in the country in 2020.

According to the report, ischaemic heart diseases, neoplasms, and cerebrovascular diseases were the three top causes of death among Filipinos last year, the same as in 2019.

“In 2020, deaths due to ischaemic heart diseases were the leading cause of death with 99.7 thousand cases or 17.3 percent of the total deaths in the country. This was an increase of about 2.3 percent from the 97.5 thousand deaths or 15.7% of the total deaths in 2019,” the report said.

“On the other hand, neoplasms, commonly known as 'cancer', came in second with 62.3 thousand deaths or 10.8 percent.

“Cerebrovascular diseases were the third leading cause which accounted for 59.7 thousand deaths or 10.4 percent of the total. Neoplasms and cerebrovascular diseases both showed a decrease of -9.3 percent and -6.0 percent, respectively, from the previous year.”

Diabetes mellitus, meanwhile, was fourth, exhibiting an annual increase of 7.8 percent.

Occupying the fifth spot was pneumonia with 32.6 thousand cases recorded in 2020.

Photo by: PSA

COVID-19 ranked seventh with 27,967 deaths tallied under its name.

A total of 12,582 COVID-19 deaths were recorded within Metro Manila with Quezon City getting the lion share of the figures with 2,566 reported deaths registered last year followed by Manila and Pasig.

The Southern Tagalog Region, meanwhile, registered COVID-19 deaths with 6,914 death followed by Central Luzon with 2,576 deaths.

It's worth noting, however, that COVID-19 death figures provided by the PSA were not the same as the numbers reported by the Department of Health (DOH) as the two agencies employ different systems in their data gathering.

One noticeable element in the report was the jump in the number of death by self-harm or suicide among the population in 2020.

Deaths by suicide sadly leaped to almost 26 percent in 2020 as compared to 2019, thus rising to the 27th spot in the list.

Last year's pandemic and its effect on people's wellbeing - prolonged isolation, lack of social interaction, anxiety, financial and job security worries - has made many experts worried about the mental health of the general population.

“From the 2,808 registered deaths due to intentional self-harm in 2019, this spiked to 3,529 in 2020,” the report summary mentioned.

Mental health issues - from depression to anxiety, among others - spare no one, even famous personalities and celebrities who seem to live a charmed life. Get to know some of our local celebrities who admitted struggling, and continue to struggle, with mental health issues despite their stature.