Deaths and death causes in residents of Shufu county of Xinjiang, 2017

ObjectiveTo understand the death pattern and causes in residents of Shufu county of Xinjiang, and provide scientific evidence for the development of comprehensive disease prevention measures.

MethodsThe incidence data of deaths in local residents in Shufu in 2017 were collected to calculate the mortality rate and life expectancy, constituent ratio of death causes and potential years of life lost (PYLL). A sampling retrospective survey was conducted to understand the causes of deaths.

ResultsA total of 1 623 death cases were reported in Shufu in 2017 and the mortality was 5.69 ‰, the standardized mortality rate was 6.90‰. The life expectancy was 71.40 years old (69.36 years old for males and 74.03 years old for females). The first 6 death causes were heart disease (20.09%), cerebrovascular disease (14.20%), communicable diseases/parasitosis (14.09%), injury (13.74%), cancer (11.66%) and respiratory diseases (7.62%), accounting for 81.41% of total death cases. Injury, cancer and perinatal diseases were the first 3 death causes with high PYLL, the rates of PYLL were 40.00%, 10.15%, 9.10%, respectively.

ConclusionChronic and non-communicable diseases were the major causes of deaths in local residents in Shuhu, but communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, also took a high proportion in constituent ratio of death causes. Injury was the main reason of early deaths in children and young adults. Comprehensive measures should be taken in disease prevention and control to improve people’s health and life expectancy.