Stats Dept: Heart disease remains leading cause of death in Malaysia

IPOH: Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Malaysia, according to the Statistics Department.

In its "Statistics on Causes of Death", it listed ischaemic heart disease as the main cause of death in the country last year.

A total of 16,374 deaths or 15% of 109,164 medically certified deaths last year were due to heart disease.

The second leading cause of deaths in the country was pneumonia (12.2%), cerebrovascular diseases, (8%), transport accidents (3.8%) and malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung (2.4%).

Ischaemic heart disease remains the principal cause of death for males in Malaysia, while for females, the principal cause of death was pneumonia, it said.

The department said the principal causes of death by age group revealed that 3.3% of those aged between 0 and 14 died from transport accidents.

For those in the age groups between 15 and 40, 20.6% died due to transport accidents.

Moreover, 18% of those in the age group of between 41 and 59 died due to ischaemic heart disease.

For those 60 years and above, 16% of them also died due to ischaemic heart diseases.