[Analysis on causes of death of residents in Beijing, 1965-1974]

To fill up the absence of data on causes of death of urban residents in Beijing during 1965-1974 and provide evidence for the similar study in other areas.

All possible sources for death data during 1965-1974 were identified through expert consultations and record search. Stratified sampling was conducted to collect the death data of urban residents during this period in Beijing. The mortality rate, death cause constituent and rank of death causes were used in this descriptive analysis.

A total of 11 668 records of deaths from 1965 to 1974 were collected from 10 local police stations in urban area of Beijing. The top 10 death causes in the urban residents were heart disease, tumor, cerebrovascular disease, accidental injury, respiratory system disease, digestive system disease, communicable disease and parasitic disease, nervous system disease, urogenital and reproductive system disease, endocrine and nutrition metabolic diseases. The deaths caused by these diseases accounted for 84.19% of the total deaths. Accidental injury accounted for 13.22% of the total deaths, which was significantly higher than that in either 1964 or 1975, two years before and after this period(P<0.01). Suicide accounted for 54.47% of the total accidental injury deaths. For men, accidental injury was the leading death cause, followed by cancer and heart disease; for women, heart disease, cancer and cerebrovascular disease were the top three death causes.

The major death cause in urban residents changed from infectious diseases to chronic and non-communicable diseases during 1965-1974. A remarkable high proportion of deaths caused by accidental injury was due to the historical background during that period in Beijing, China.