THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In Kerala, the reason for sex ratio having a tilt favourable to women may have more to it than just a low incidence of female infanticide.An analysis of the deaths registered in 2008 by the Statistics Department of the state government has found that the number of men dying far exceeds that of women, irrespective of the age group.Among all the diseases that took away the menfolk of the state, heart attack, asthma and cancer topped the list. Suicide, liver disease, kidney trouble and road accidents predictably claimed more men than women.Among the medically certified deaths, most men were found to commit suicide at the prime of their life in the age group 35-44 and 45-54.Most women, on the other hand, ended their lives much earlier, in their teens and early twenties. Heart attack, asthma and cancer have turned out to be the biggest killers in the state, for both males and females.Heart attack was the reason for deaths in almost 27 percent of the cases, asthma caused deaths in nearly 12 percent and cancer 7.5 percent.While more men died of heart attack than women, in the case of asthma, the reverse turned out to be true.Even in the case of cancer, the third biggest killer disease, there were more deaths among men.Apart from asthma, more women succumbed to deaths due to diabetes, paralysis and blood pressure, while the death rate among men for these diseases were lower.The maternal mortality rate was computed as 21 per one lakh live births. Complications related with pregnancy and child birth and heart attack were some of the major causes of maternal death in all age groups.Approximately 20 percent of the maternal deaths occurred in the age group of 2529 while 15 percent happened in women aged above 45.There were 4,060 infant deaths registered. Almost 75 percent of the infant deaths happened in urban areas while 25 percent were reported from rural areas.The deaths registered in 2008 were analysed by classifying them into ten age groups right from 'less than one' to 'seventy plus'.The percentage of death was lowest for both sexes in the age group 14 years and highest in age group 70 and above.The report has been prepared by the Vital Statistics Division of the Economics and Statistics Department by a team under the guidance of the Additional Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths D Rajan.The team includes Deputy Director S Leelamomy and Assistant Director K Shailamma, research assistant M N Raju and statistical assistants V K Baburaj and Praveen.
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