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Respiratory diseases account for 13 pct of deaths in EU: Eurostat

Xinhua, September 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Diseases of the respiratory system, including lung cancer, were the cause of death for 671,900 persons in the European Union (EU) in 2012, 13 percent of all deaths, according to a report published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, on Thursday.

Among the various diseases of the respiratory system, lung cancer, bronchitis and other chronic lower respiratory diseases and pneumonia were particularly prominent in the EU as causes of deaths, said the report.

The highest share of deaths from diseases of the respiratory system was recorded in the United Kingdom, followed by Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain in 2012.

In contrast, respiratory diseases accounted for less than 8 percent of all causes of death in Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Estonia.

Looking at the main categories of respiratory diseases leading to death, lung cancer comes first in every EU member state except Greece and Portugal, said the report.

More than half of deaths from diseases of the respiratory system are due to lung cancer in Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Lithuania and Finland. Most of these member states also recorded the highest shares of deaths from asthma.

Moreover, pneumonia accounted for a large proportion of deaths due to respiratory diseases in Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia, while it accounted for less than 10 percent of deaths from respiratory diseases in Hungary, Greece, Croatia and Finland.

Representing almost 60 percent of all deaths due to diseases of the respiratory system, men were more affected than women in the EU, which was mainly driven by the much higher number of deaths from lung cancer among the male population, said the report. Endit