Trends in infectious disease mortality rates, Spain, 1980-2011

Using mortality data from National Institute of Statistics in Spain, we analyzed trends of infectious disease mortality rates in Spain during 1980-2011 to provide information on surveillance and control of infectious diseases. During the study period, 628,673 infectious disease-related deaths occurred, the annual change in the mortality rate was -1.6%, and the average infectious disease mortality rate was 48.5 deaths/100,000 population. Although the beginning of HIV/AIDS epidemic led to an increased mortality rate, a decreased rate was observed by the end of the twentieth century. By codes from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, the most frequent underlying cause of death was pneumonia. Emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases continue to be public health problems despite reduced mortality rates produced by various interventions. Therefore, surveillance and control systems should be reinforced with a goal of providing reliable data for useful decision making.