LIFE EXPECTANCY INCREASES GLOBALLY AS DEATH TOLL FALLS FROM MAJOR DISEASES

• Women living longer than men
• Heart disorder, stroke, lung ailment top killers worldwide
PEOPLE now living longer throughout the world by average of six years and death toll from major diseases has fallen thanks in part to lower rates of cardiovascular diseases deaths in high-income countries and child deaths in low-income countries.
According to the study published yesterday in The Lancet, people are living much longer worldwide than they were two decades ago, as death rates from infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease have fallen.
According to the new, first-ever journal publication of country-specific cause-of-death data for 188 countries, the top 10 leading causes of death globally in 2013, with the number of deaths were: Ischemic heart disease (8,139,900); Stroke (6,446,900); Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2,931,200); Pneumonia (2,652,600); Alzheimer’s disease (1,655,100); Lung cancer (1,639,600); Road injuries (1,395,800); Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) with 1,341,000 deaths; Diabetes (1,299,400); and Tuberculosis (1,290,300).
This is compared to the situation in 1990: Ischemic heart disease (5,737,500); Stroke (4,584,800); Pneumonia (3,420,700); Diarrheal diseases (2,578,700); Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2,421,300); Tuberculosis (1,786,100); Neonatal preterm birth complications (1,570,500); Road injuries (1,058,400); Lung cancer (1,050,000); and Malaria (888,100).
Analysis from the figures showed that overall, global mortality rates increased significantly for very few diseases between 1990 and 2013.
Globally, three conditions – ischemic heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – claimed the most lives in 2013; accounting for nearly 32 per cent of all deaths.
The study titled, “Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013,” was conducted by an international consortium of more than 700 researchers led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, United States
Source: Guardian