Cause-of-death distributions and mortality trends in Turkey between 2009 and 2017

Abstract

Background: Making the right decisions in the field of public health depends on the reliable recording of statistical data such as death and birth.There have been radical changes and innovations in the death registrationsince 2009 in Turkey to improve reporting.Aims: To examine the distribution and the trend of causes of death between the years 2009 and 2017 in Turkey.Study Design: Descriptive study.Methods: In this study, the causes of death were evaluated in threegroups used in the Global Burden of Disease study. Group I included infectious, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional conditions; group II includednoncommunicable diseases; and group III included injuries. Age-standardized mortality rates were calculated per 100,000 according to age,sex, and cause of death. Joinpoint regression was used to evaluate thetrend in mortality rates. In addition, the leading causes of death were alsodetermined.Results: In total, age-standardized mortality rates increased significantlyon average annually (1.5% per year). When the trends of causes of deathwere examined according to gender, there was a significant increase indeaths from group I in both genders and a significant increase in deathsfrom group III in males, whereas there was no statistically significantchange in deaths from group II between 2009 and 2017.Conclusion: A significant quantitative improvement in death registrationwas seen in Turkey between the years 2009 and 2017. This is due to theincrease in the number of reported deaths. The change in the distributionof causes of death is noteworthy. This research can provide the basis forfurther researches that will examine the change in causes of death.