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Home > Topics > Causes of Death

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The question “what are the commonest causes of death in the West Midlands” appears reasonable but the answer depends on how one groups or splits different causes. For example if one treats “all circulatory disease” (ICD I00-I99) as a single cause it accounts for 35.7% of all deaths but if one splits it into its component diseases the commonest ischaemic heart disease (ICD 10 I20-25) only accounts for 16.7% of all deaths. For this analysis in trying to put causes of death into cIinically meaningful groups the groupings suggested by ONS, Health Statistics Quarterly - Leading causes of death in England and Wales - how should we group causes? (Pdf 146Kb), with cancer split by different site but all accidents treated as a single group have been adopted.

Figure Percentage of Deaths (All ages) Male and Female West Midlands 2004-2006 by cause

Percentage of Deaths (All ages) Male West Midlands 2004-2006 by cause

Percentage of Deaths (All ages) Female West Midlands 2004-2006 by cause

The percentage of causes of death at all ages is very similar to that for percentage of causes of death in older people (since it is in this age group that the majority of deaths occur). The percentage of cause of death in younger age bands is very different to that for all ages.

Ten commonest causes of death (all ages) West Midlands 2004-2006

Male	ICD10	% of all deaths
Ischaemic Heart Disease	I20-I25	19.6
Cerebrovascular disease	I60-I69	8.5
Ca Trachea Bronchus &Lung	C33,C44	7.0
Chronic lower respiratory disease	J40-J47	5.4
Influenza & Pneumonia	J10-J18	4.3
Ca prostate	C61	3.7
Ca colon, rectum and anus	C18-C21	3.2
Accidents	V01-X59	2.4
Ca lymphoid and haemopoietic	C81-C96	2.2
Dementia & Alzheimer’s	F01,F03,G30	2.0
Condition in top ten for females but not for males
Heart failure and ill defined cardiac disease	I50, I51	1.8
Diseases of urinary system	N00-N39	1.7

Female	ICD10	% of all deaths
Ischaemic Heart Disease	I20-I25	14.0
Cerebrovascular disease	I60-I69	12.1
Influenza & Pneumonia	J10-J18	6.4
Dementia & Alzheimer’s	F01,F03,G30	4.6
Chronic lower respiratory disease	J40-J47	4.4
Ca breast	C50	4.1
Ca Trachea Bronchus & Lung	C33,C44	4.0
Heart failure and ill defined cardiac disease	I50, I51	2.7
Ca colon, rectum and anus	C18-C21	2.4
Diseases of urinary system	N00-N39	2.4
Condition in top ten for males but not for females
Accidents	V01-X59	2.2
Ca lymphoid and haemopoietic	C81-C96	1.9

Age standardised death rates for West Midlands PCTs and Local Authorities for Ischaemic Heart Disease, Cerebrovascular Disease, Ca Trachea Bronchus and Lung (Ca Lung), Ca colon and rectum (C18-C20), Ca Prostate, Ca Breast and Accidents (Injury and Poisoning) will be found in the profiles section of the website.