Causes of death
Natural causes of death
1 Cardiovascular diseases cause around half of all deaths. These include all diseases of the blood circulation and heart. Congenital heart and vascular diseases in particular often lead to death. Particularly well-known causes include various forms of stroke and heart attack.
2. cancer as a neoplasm of degenerated tissue includes malignant tumors in the broadest sense and, for example, leukemia (“blood cancer”). Here, diseases of the lung, bowel, prostate and female breast lead in the frequency of death. Inhaled smoking is the dominant cause of lung cancer. In colorectal cancer, almost all tumors are found in the colon. Prostate cancer leads to death in three percent of those affected. As the most common cancer in men, these tumors cause one in ten cancer-related deaths. Finally, mammary carcinoma, commonly known as breast cancer, affects almost exclusively women. This tumor of the human mammary gland is the most common cancer in women in the West.
3 In liver diseases, cirrhosis is the final stage of almost all chronic diseases of this organ. As a practically irreversible condition, cirrhosis marks the end of a development that has often lasted several decades. Cirrhosis in Europe very often results from abusive alcohol consumption.
4. bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis and COPD are among the most common causes of death in the lungs. Asthma as chronic shortness of breath means inflammation of the airways. Almost every tenth child suffers from this treatable disease. Chronic bronchitis manifests itself over years as a frequent cough with sputum. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) refers to a number of diseases with coughing sputum and shortness of breath during physical exertion.
5 Infections begin with the entry of harmful life forms or molecules into the body. Hepatitis B, for example, is one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide. The pathogen very often causes liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Safe vaccinations protect against this virus and its secondary diseases.
Cause: Infections
There are several infections worldwide that kill people in the six to seven-figure range every year. Of these, tuberculosis (TB) mostly affects the lungs. Other respiratory diseases with fatal outcomes primarily affect children. Cholera and typhoid as diarrheal diseases also usually cost the lives of children. Measles, a viral infectious disease, also mostly affects children with fatal consequences. The same applies to malaria, a tropical disease caused by parasites. Sleeping sickness, on the other hand, which is also a parasitic tropical disease, does not differentiate between age groups when it comes to fatal outcomes. HIV infections with AIDS as a manifestation remain a threat, particularly in Africa, despite significant medical progress. Tetanus (lockjaw) is usually fatal because the bacterium that causes it also affects the respiratory muscles – resulting in death by suffocation.
Non-natural causes of death in Germany
1. suicide leads to the death of over 11,000 people every year, with one woman for every three men. Suicide as the intentional ending of life occurs through injury or poisoning. Alternatively, the intake of critical medication or adequate nutrition can be neglected.
2. around 4,000 fatal road accidents every year are mostly caused by speeding and alcohol consumption . Insufficient distance from the vehicle in front and errors in the choice of direction and side of the road follow. Other causes include unsuccessful overtaking and simply failing to give way, followed by careless changes of direction. Wildlife accidents also contribute significantly to fatal accidents.
3. other accidents in the sense of sudden events are the third most common cause of non-natural deaths. An external force injures the body, ultimately ending life-sustaining processes. The most common causes of these forces include collisions during sporting events. Burns and penetration of the skin also dominate, usually in the form of cuts and puncture wounds.
4. general damage to living tissue caused by external phenomena follows in frequency. Such trauma is caused by sudden exposure to energy or rapid deprivation of oxygen or heat. Energy may be mechanical (e.g. crushing) or thermal (e.g. skin burns). Electrical or chemical effects and radiation damage may also lead to death.
5 Finally, poisoning results from ingesting substances that break down cells, for example. Nerve paralysis and disturbed cell metabolism also result from some ingestions of toxins
