UAE | Health
UAE study reveals cancer is the biggest killer in country
Cancer and injury, mainly accidental, are the major causes of death in Abu Dhabi Emirate, surpassing cardiovascular diseases that are commonly believed to be the leading killers.
- By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 00:05 June 8, 2008
Al Ain: Cancer and injury, mainly accidental, are the major causes of death in Abu Dhabi Emirate, surpassing cardiovascular diseases that are commonly believed to be the leading killers.
This long held misconception has been dispelled by a team of researchers who examined death records at the Department of Preventive Medicines (DPM) in Al Ain.
Dr Peter Barss, head of the research team, said: "Our goal was to ascertain the true causes of death."
Cardiac arrest, he said, is commonly listed on death certificates.
Not acceptable
"This is not acceptable as a cause of death, since everyone's heart and breathing stops when they are dead," he said.
Finding the true causes of death will facilitate the correct prioritisation of different health conditions and help improve the quality of death reporting.
"This will also enable health authorities to properly streamline their resources in taking preventive measures against the leading causes of death," he said.
He said studies in Canada, the UK, and the US have also shown that physicians do not accurately record the underlying causes of death on death certificates.
This situation was believed to be similar in the UAE.
The research team included two medical experts and four medical students from the Department of Community Medicine at the College of Medicine and Health Science of the UAE University.
The team did a retrospective survey of death certificates and hospital records.
They randomly selected 300 deaths from a total of about 900 a year in Al Ain district. Antenatal deaths were excluded.
After review, the team found three leading underlying causes of death, namely cancer (20 per cent), injury (19 per cent), and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (12 per cent). Some 15 per cent of deaths were for unknown reasons.
Dr Barss said the study has revealed a disturbing situation with more and more younger people dying because of injury.
The mean age of death for injury victims was 34 years, for cancer 60, and for CVD 64.
"The proportion of deaths by injury was higher for non-Emiratis, 22 per cent compared with 16 per cent for Emiratis. The proportion of deaths by CVD was 13 per cent for Emiratis and 11 per cent for non-Emiratis," he said.
"It is very disturbing to see people dying with injuries at a young age," he said, noting that most of these injuries were due to traffic accidents.
New certificate
The research has led to the introduction of new computerised death certificates by the General Health Authority of Abu Dhabi at all hospitals.
The new document has been designed by Dr Peter Barss, head of research at Tawam Hospital.
Talking to Gulf News on Saturday, he said: "It is one the best documents in the world to record the precise cause of death."
The earlier death certificate, he said, had numerous errors. It enabled wrong classifications of the causes of death.
The new certificate is a computerised and comprehensive document. "It has already made a huge improvement in death reporting," said Dr Barss, who has given workshops on its use at different hospitals in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and the western region of Abu Dhabi Emirate.
Dr Barss said other UAE emirates should also consider introducing the new death certificate. "We have done all necessary research and this can help the health authorities in Dubai and other emirates," he said.
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