MORTALITY TRENDS

• Trends in national mortality rates •  

Graphs showing time trends in mortality rates

Female mortality at age 35-59 years for liver cirrhosis and

three other common diseases: United Kingdom, 1950-2007

Graph showing cirrhosis & selected other mortality in the UK, 1950-2007

Comment: In early middle-aged British women, death from liver cirrhosis is now about as common as death from coronary heart disease. Four decades ago, there were 16 coronary deaths at this age for each cirrhosis death. Most liver cirrhosis in the UK is caused by alcohol.

Method: Mortality rates calculated using data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Division, then standardised for age (by taking unweighted averages of component rates) and smoothed (as weighted 3-year moving averages). For details, see the Info page.

Caution: Trends can reflect not only changes in disease occurrence or treatment, but also changes in how a cause of death is defined or coded.

WHO mortality rates for particular countries, ages and causes of death