Ischemic heart diseases, or heart problems caused by narrowed arteries, remain the primary cause of deaths among Filipinos in 2023 as it was in 2022, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.
From January to December last year, deaths caused by ischemic heart diseases total 112,789 cases or 19.0 percent of the total deaths in the country.
Neoplasms, tumors that when malignant is cancerous, was the second leading cause of death among Filipinos last year, accounting for 11 percent at 63,788 while cerebrovascular diseases, or the narrowing of arteries to the brain that could lead to stroke, aneurysm, brain bleed or carotid artery disease, was third with a total 59,829.
A total 37,633 and 36,262 deaths were traced to diabetes mellitus and pneumonia, respectively.
Philippine National Health Accounts for 2022, the latest available data from the PSA, showed total healthcare expenditure reached P1.2 trillion, down slightly from 2021 due to easing COVID-19 spending but up 32 percent in 2019 when the total stood at P906 billion. This accounts for 5.5 percent of the economy in 2022.
Per capita healthcare spending of P10,059.49 in 2022 and P6,662.20 in 2019.
Current health care spending in 2022 stood at P1.16 trillion, with P516.75 billion spent for curative care and P129.3 billion used for preventive care.
Data for the National Health Accounts for 2023 are likely to be released sometime in the third quarter.
