Cancers and cardiovascular diseases have killed four times more than Covid . The numbers come from Istat which closed the investigation into the causes of death relating to 2020, the year in which the pandemic broke out in Italy. Sardinia emerges with broken bones, because it exceeds the national average in terms of deaths linked to cancer . Overall mortality is doing better, because the island closed 2020 with a rate of 116.6 per 10 thousand inhabitants. The same value was 169.6 in Liguria, 154.6 in Piedmont and 143.8 in Valle d'Aosta.

In 2020, deaths in Sardinia reached 18,666 . Of these, 5,129 were caused by tumors, while 5,089 by cardiovascular diseases. The two values, which add up to 10,218, represent 54.74 percent of the total.

In detail of neoplasms, the highest mortality rate, i.e. the ratio between deaths and population, is recorded in the metropolitan city of Cagliari (over 431 thousand inhabitants) with 39.4. Followed by the Oristano area with 31.7 and the Nuorese area with 30.7: the two territories, which have 221 thousand and 158 thousand residents respectively, surpass the Sassarese area, which stands at 30, despite the latter being demographically larger (476 thousand registered). Southern Sardinia (333 thousand inhabitants) is at the rear with 26.8. The average regional rate is 32 basis points and places the island significantly above the national value, at 29.9. In the rest of the South the figure is even lower, at 27.1. In absolute values by territory, deaths from cancer were 1,664 in the metropolitan city of Cagliari; 1,440 in the Sassari area; 914 in Southern Sardinia; 624 in the Nuoro area; 487 in the Oristano area.

Covid, however, in 2020 represented only the fourth cause of death in Sardinia , thanks to all the containment measures adopted to slow the spread of the virus. In any case, the pandemic killed 1,040 people on the island in the first year . Of which 404 in the Sassari area, 369 in the metropolitan city of Cagliari, 184 in the Nuoro area, 43 in the Oristano area and 33 in Southern Sardinia. The regional mortality rate for Covid was 6.5 percent, half the national rate at 13.2. Even compared to the rest of the South, which recorded 6.1, the Island is below. By territory, however, this is the mortality rate linked to the coronavirus: 9 points in the Nuoro area; 8.7 in the metropolitan city of Cagliari; 8.5 in the Sassari area. Then down to 3.1 in the Oristano area and 1 in Southern Sardinia. Side fact: to date there have been 2,920 deaths from Covid .

Cardiovascular diseases , as mentioned, determined the second cause of death in 2020. The 5,089 registered deaths are divided as follows: 1,488 in the Sassari area; 1,338 in the metropolitan city of Cagliari; 1,035 in Southern Sardinia. The deaths in the Nuoro and Oristano areas were decidedly lower: 711 and 517 respectively. The mortality rate for diseases of the cardiovascular system is 31.8 on the island, significantly below the national 38.2 and the 38.4 in the South. These are the rates in the area: 35 in the Nuoro area, again leading on an island scale; 33.6 in the Oristano area; 31.7 in the metropolitan city of Cagliari; 31 in the Sassari area; 30.3 in Southern Sardinia.

The third cause of death on the island is respiratory diseases : 1,246 deaths, of which 372 in the Sassari area, 320 in the metropolitan city of Cagliari; 287 in Southern Sardinia; 158 in the Nuoro area; 109 in the Oristano area. Sardinia has a mortality rate of 7.8 which places it both below the national figure (9.6) and below that of the South (8.1). In the area, the mortality value is calculated as follows: South Sardinia 8.4; Nuorese 7.8; Sassari 7.7; Metropolitan city of Cagliari 7.6; Oristano 7.1.

Finally, a curiosity: the Istat report on causes of death includes "traumas and poisonings" which in 2020 totaled 803 deaths. With Sassari at 229, the metropolitan city of Cagliari at 218, Southern Sardinia at 158, Nuore at 125 and Oristano at 173.

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