惡性腫瘤成為中國城鄉居民的首要死因???

    There was such a post recently: 

     "中國衛生部８日消息：惡性腫瘤已成為中國城鄉居民的首要死因。

    據對３０個城市和７８個農村縣死亡原因的統計，２００６年中國城市居民前十位死因分別為：惡性腫瘤、腦血管病、心髒病、呼吸係病、損傷及中毒、內分泌營養和代謝疾病、消化係病、泌尿生殖係病、神經係病、精神障礙，合計占死亡總數的９０．４％。而與２００５年相比，中國城市居民惡性腫瘤的死亡率上升１８．６個百分點。

    農村居民前十位死因分別為：惡性腫瘤、腦血管病、呼吸係病、心髒病、損傷及中毒、消化係病、內分泌營養和代謝疾病、泌尿生殖係病、神經係病、精神障礙，合計占死亡總數的９２．３％。而與２００５年相比，農村居民的惡性腫瘤死亡率上升２３．１個百分點。

新華網"
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This is a classic example of how incorrect information can mislead so many people by multiple uninformed ZTs in the era of internet.

 

 

First of all, there is NO death registry in China so nobody knows the true #1 killer in China. Huge numbers of people die there without a doctor’s death certificate to indicate the reason of death. This is especially true in countryside where the majority of China’s population lives. But any reasonale person would agree on an educated guess that among all leathal disease the one has highest prevalence would cause the most death.

 

Secondly, that data was a survey from those Chinese hospital death statistics where death numbers due to cancer is much much higher than the real world situations. Many many more people die from other diseases just were not recorded but almost all cancer patient were recorded at the time of diagnosis.

 

Thirdly, you probably could claim the death RATE from cancer is highest. But given the smaller prevalence of cancer, it would be a horrible thing to have cancer as the number 1 killer in China.  Or maybe it is such a good thing to boast to the world that the death numbers from other much much more prevalent diseases such as heart disease, cereberal vascular disease, etc., are at such a low number due to the excellent works done by Chinese medical society (including traditional Chinese medicine). This should be the headline news everywhere and deserves the Noble Prize in my mind. Yet there is not even a single reputable paper published about this. Also please note the claim that "而與２００５年相比，中國城市居民惡性腫瘤的死亡率上升１８．６個百分點" ---- a death rate rise by that much??? or you mean the incidence/newly diagnosed cases ???

 

Lastly, those “news” especially with a catchy title like the one we are talking about could be widely accepted, although not 
necessarily correct because it alerts and encourages people to live healthier. And people, even those who do the ZT, 
do get attention which could be a good thing. But if you are trying to defend a wrong information using evidence from that 
wrong information, then it will be too obvious. 

"Please give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference."