Heart diseases return as the leading cause of death in Czechia

The number of deaths in Czechia last year as the lowest since the start of the pandemic, and the reason for the return to normal numbers was the ebbing of deaths related to Covid, according to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ).

In 2022, a total of 120,219 inhabitants passed away in the country. The three most frequent causes of death were all related to heart and circulatory problems.

The leading cause was chronic ischemia, which accounted for about 16,400 deaths or 13.7 percent of the total. Heart failure was next with 7,300, or 6.1 percent, and vascular diseases of the brain with 6.900, or 5.7 percent.

Covid-19 dropped to fourth place and caused 6,000 deaths, or 5 percent. In fifth place were malignant tumors of the bronchus, trachea, and lungs, which accounted for 4,900 deaths.

The order of the most frequent causes of death was different for men and women from second place.

"For men last year, Covid-19 still played a significant role, as it became their second most common cause of death after chronic ischemia. Almost 3,300 men died as a result of it, in contrast, it was the sixth-most common cause for women with fewer than 2,800 deaths," Magdaléna Baštecká from the ČSÚ’s department of demographic statistics said.

Third place in the order of causes of death among men was taken by heart failure, fourth by malignant tumors of the bronchus, trachea, and lungs and fifth by vascular diseases of the brain.

For women, the first three places copied the structure of total mortality, with chronic ischemia, heart failure, and vascular diseases of the brain as the leading causes. These were followed by Alzheimer's disease, other dementia, and hypertension.

The number of deaths in 2022 was more concentrated in December with 12,200 deaths, which was one-tenth of the annual total, while the 2015-19 average for that month reached just under 9 percent.

"Influenza and other viral respiratory diseases, whose occurrence in the past two winter seasons were suppressed by anti-Covid measures, had a fundamental influence on this," ČSÚ statistician Markéta Šafusová said.

Of the total flu deaths in 2022, some 81 percent occurred in December, compared to an average of 2 percent in the pre-Covid years, with flu deaths concentrated in the months of February and March.