Pneumonia claims 126 lives in Guimaras in Jan-Jun 2021

The number of deaths in Guimaras escalated by 29.32 percent in the first semester (January to June) of 2021.

The leading cause of death in the island province was Severe/Community-Acquired Pneumonia which claimed 126 lives, followed by Cerebrovascular Disease (90 cases), Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease (88), Acute Myocardial Infarction (61), and Diabetes Mellitus (32).

The data is based on the Decentralized Vital Statistics System (DVSS) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Guimaras.

On average, 21 Guimarasnons died every month due to Severe/Community-Acquired Pneumonia and 15 people succumbed to Cerebrovascular and Hypertensive Cardiovascular Diseases per month.

The top 5 leading causes of deaths claimed 397 lives in the province. Most deaths were males (229), with a gender gap of 15.37 percent.

Severe/Community-Acquired Pneumonia was also the leading causes of death in 2020 with 129 cases, higher by 2.38 percent compared to 2021 with 126 cases. Acute/Myocardial Infarction caused 67 deaths, followed by Cerebrovascular disease (46), Hypertensive Cardiovascular Diseases (35), and Severe Sepsis (30).

Male deaths caused by Severe/Community-Acquired Pneumonia accounted for 61.07 percent or a gender gap of 23.67 percentage points over their female counterpart.

Male fatalities were higher among females in all top leading causes of death, except for Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease with higher female deaths or a gender gap of 14.29 percent.

Table 2 depicts total deaths in Guimaras with 618 during the first semester of 2021, higher than the 497 registered deaths in 2020.

“Data revealed that more males died than females in the first semester of both years (2020 and 2021),” Provincial Statistical Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

“For the first semester of 2021, there were 618 registered deceased – 373 or 60.36% were males, and 245 or 39.64% were females, while in the first semester of 2020, there were 308 males and 189 female fatalities,” Losare added.

Losare also cited that for the first semester of 2021, the recorded sex ratio is 152 males per 100 female deaths, which means that male fatalities are higher by around 128 cases or 20.71% more than females.

“Comparing death occurrences for the first semester of 2020 and 2021, the registered deaths for all the five municipalities recorded increment,” she said.

Jordan, the seat of the provincial hospital, recorded the most fatalities in both years (first semester) – 175 in 2020 and 204 deaths in 2021; followed by Buenavista (119 in 2020 and 172 in 2021), Nueva Valencia (117 in 2020 and 131 in 2021), San Lorenzo (47 in 2020 and 69 in 2021 ). (See Figure 2)

“Sibunag municipality registered the least deaths for both years, 39 in 2020, and 42 in 2021,” Losare said.

Losare said that the death records are by place of occurrence.