UK’s death rate hits record low but leading killer disease remains big concern
The number of deaths in the UK has decreased, however experts are calling for urgent government action in a specific disease that is a concern for the nation
The UK death rate has reached a record low after mortality experts looked at death certificates registered last year and uncovered that deaths per head of the population are back to pre-pandemic levels.
The number of 989 deaths per 100,000 people was also lower than the previous record, which was in 2019, BBC reports.
Despite the new figure, the UK remains back on its long-term trend of only gradual improvement.
The research was carried out by analysts from the Contiuous Mortablity Investigation (CMI) at the Institue and Faculty of Actuaries. Stuart McDonald from the CMI described the latest findings as "pretty poor by historical standards."
The data suggested that for the last five years the nation has experienced a "flat mortality improvement."
According to the BBC, a department of Health spokesperson said the Government was "shifting focus from sickness to prevention."
To calculate the death rate, CMI analysts used provisional weekly death registeration figures for the four nations of the UK.
The registered death rate in the UK halved from 1974 to 2011, mostly because of the improvements in tacking heart diseases by smoking prevention and medical developments.
Between 2011 and 2019, the improvements drastically slowed down and then made a turn during the Covid pandemic, which saw thousands more people dying than normal.
Dementia and Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of death in England and Wales, according to the latest figures, and despite researchers suggesting a variety of reasons behind the slowdown since 2011, cardiovascular disease is currently a serious problem in the nation.
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Professor Bryan Williams OBE, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Cardiovasular disease remains a leading killer in the UK.
"The plateau we have seen in reducing the number of deaths...is a serious cause for concern, made worse by the impact of the pandemic on an already overstretched health service."
The disease is also causing an increasing number of early deaths in the most deprived areas of England, according to the expert, who has called for "urgent Government action" in its prevention, detection and treatment.
Death rates prodominantly reflect the health of older people as over three-quarters of UK deaths occur at the age of 70 and above.
However, the CMI did find "really significant differences" at younger ages, with a "concerning" upward trend in deaths among 20 - 44-years-olds.
According to Antonino Polizzi, researcher at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford, causes of death in this age group are often "external and substance-related" such as drug overdoses, deaths related to alchohol, accidents, homicides and suicides.
Scotland is particularly seeing a rise in drug-related deaths, he added.
Regarding the overall trends at all age groups, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We inherited an NHS that was broken and we are determined to fix it.
"Through our Plan for Change we are shifting focus from sickness to prevention and targeting the drivers of ill health and catching the biggest killers earlier.
"We are creating the first smoke free generation, stopping junk food ads being targeted at children and imrpoving the detection of diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease."
