These are the 5 diseases that kill the most in the world, according to WHO

The World Health Organization has developed a report which seeks to map which diseases that kill the most in the world. In this case, the data collected refer to the period between 2000 and 2019 and demonstrate that heart diseases are those that most lead people to death. Below you can see the top five positions on the list.

Top 5 diseases that kill the most people

It is worth noting that the following diseases are not necessarily the most lethal. This is because the degree of lethality considers other issues, such as the time between diagnosis and death, as well as treatment difficulties. On the other hand, the following five diseases were the most responsible for deaths worldwide in a quantitative analysis, check out:

Ischemic Heart Disease

This disease is also called myocardial ischemia and concerns the obstruction of the coronary arteries, which are the veins that carry blood to the heart. This obstruction is due to the accumulation of fat in the region. According to WHO estimates, this disease accounts for 16% of all deaths.

Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA)

Most people know this disease by the name of "stroke" and it is responsible for 11% of all deaths worldwide. In this case, this disease occurs when there is a change in the flow of blood to the brain, so that there is then the death of brain nerve cells.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

In third place, we have COPD, which would then be responsible for approximately 6% of all deaths in the world. This disease is characterized by blocked access to air in the lungs due to a group of other lung diseases, such as chronic bronchitis.

Lower respiratory tract infections

Still within the category of respiratory diseases, we have lower respiratory tract infections that are responsible for more than 2 million deaths per year. In this case, it is not a specific disease, but a type of infection, such as pneumonia, for example.

neonatal conditions

Finally, we have diseases that cause death at the time of birth, such as asphyxia in babies and other traumas during childbirth. According to WHO data, deaths from these causes usually exceed 2 million every year.