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Deaths from chronic disease drop

Deaths from chronic diseases are on the decline, according to statistics detailing the top 10 causes of death last year released by the Department of Health yesterday.

Huang Hsu-ming (黃旭明), director of the department's office of statistics, made the comments at a press conference in Taipei to publicize the figures.

"The total number of deaths was a little more than 135,000 people, a 6.5 percent decrease compared to 2005," Huang said.

Although various chronic diseases such as cancer, cirrhosis, diabetes and hepatitis still topped the list, deaths resulting from them were on the decline.

"There is an obvious decline in the number of deaths caused by cirrhosis, diabetes and hepatitis," Huang said. "The death rates declined 12.8 percent, 11.4 percent and 10.1 percent respectively."

Meanwhile, deaths caused by various types of cancer -- including lung cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer -- also declined last year, albeit to a lesser extent.

"More than 28 percent of the deaths occurring last year were caused by cancers. However, the overall cancer death rate has dropped 1.4 percent compared with 2005," Huang said.

Deputy Director-General Cathy Wu (吳秀英) of the Bureau of Health Promotion, attributed the declines to the "successes in disease prevention programs that the bureau has pushed for in the past few years."

"For example, 17.8 percent of women between 50 and 69 have been tested for breast cancer in the past two years, while 53.9 percent of women over 30 have been tested for cervical cancer in the past three years," Wu said, adding that deaths caused by both cancers have been on the decline.

The suicide death rate, on the other hand, increased 1.1 percent and was the only item on the list to show an increase.

"However, there was a significant drop from the previous increase rate of 2.9 percent," Huang said.
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