2022 Preliminary Vital Statistics Jan-November released on 12 April 2023. 2022 Has Excess Deaths and Fewer Births Than 2020. IHD and Hypertensive Diseases increased as COD Contributors.

2022 vital statistics data is still incomplete. Cause of Death Data shows alarming increases particularly in Ischemic Heart and Hypertensive Disease as percentage contributors to cause of deaths.

PSA has released 2022 vital statistics for the period from Jan to November, compiled effective as of 31 January 2023 on 12th April 2023. Data is still incomplete, particularly from September to November 2022.

2022 deaths were higher than 2019 and 2020 deaths for the same period, in still incomplete data. This is concerning. Deaths in 2022 should have been lower had the cause of the excess deaths been removed. Assuming that the Jan-August data is complete, 2022 had an 11.4% increase in deaths compared to 2020. Considering a 10% increase in death is a 1 in 200 year event. The deaths in 2022 are still excessive.

Births in 2022 may end up lower than prior years if the apparent trending for lower birthrates towards the end of the year continues. However, data is still too incomplete to draw definitive conclusions on % changes. For January to September, 2022 births are 1% higher than 2021 births.

Cause of Death data for the same period has also been released. Ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and neoplasms are the leading causes of death. Covid-19 Virus identified as cause of death is no longer in the top 10 causes of death in 2022, contributing only 2% (2.9% if virus not identified is included) of all deaths registered for 2022 to November as of 31 Jan 2023.

Local News reports that cardiovascular diseases are still leading cause of death in the Philippines in 2022.

Current total number of deaths from various causes in 2022 cannot be compared with total deaths in earlier years because the 2022 data is still incomplete. However, a comparison on the relative historical % contribution of the leading causes of death is relevant. It shows that heart disease is increasing as % contributor to cause of death over time. It also shows that in 2021, when Covid-19 was reported as a major contributor to cause of death, other % causes dropped. Death from hypertensive diseases shows an increasing trend across the pandemic years from 2020 to 2022.

Looking at Covid-19 attributed deaths; in 2020 assumed deaths far exceeded with virus confirmed deaths. In 2021 and 2022 the opposite occurred with more deaths “with virus identified” attributed deaths than without identification.

Further evaluation will need to wait for release of more complete data.