According to the statistics of deaths in Italy, almost 100,000 people died of causes that could have been avoided through a different lifestyle, a reduction in environmental risks or with more adequate treatments and faster diagnoses.
The Report on the State of Health of the Country from 2017 to 2021 has revealed a dramatic situation, especially when considering the gap that exists in the country between some categories of citizens. Covid19 seems to have had a devastating impact on the entire population, so much so that life expectancy has also dropped drastically in recent years.
During the years examined by the Report, drawn up by around 200 experts, Italy has suffered a sharp demographic decline which has led the population to be increasingly getting on in age. One positive fact, however, comes from the high number of people over 100 years old, who are over 1,100, a much higher number than in the rest of the world.
Before Covid19, which halted the increase in life expectancy, men lived an average of 81.1 years, while women even lived 85.4 years, data that allowed Italy to win the first places for longevity of the population among all countries in the world.
The renunciations of treatment during these years are certainly the most discouraging data, above all considering that precisely those treatments and diagnoses could have saved 6 out of 10 people, if carried out in good time. There are mainly two reasons for giving up visits and treatment: long waiting lists and serious economic problems.
Avoidable deaths in Italy, what are the data of the Ministry of Health
Premature death under the age of 75 affected over 96,000 people in 2019, highlighting an important gender gap, in fact the mortality of men is three times that of women. This inequality is also present among the Regions of Italy, the number of deaths is much higher in the South and in the Islands, while in the North and in the Centre, the situation seems to be better.
According to the data reported in the documents, the main causes of death are linked to an incorrect lifestyle, risky work activities, environmental factors and the refusal of treatments and visits. All these components have led to the emergence of:
- Lung cancer
- Liver cancer
- Ischemic heart disease
- Breast cancer
These conditions could have been avoided through an early diagnosis of the disease and the respective assumption of the right treatments, just as the conduct of a healthy lifestyle could have greatly contributed to the decrease in their occurrence.