Page 13 - ANUAL REPORT MOH 2017

c. Morbidity
The health status of a community is usually measured in terms of morbidity, which focuses on the
incidence or prevalence of disease, and mortality, which describes the proportion of death in a population.

Hospitalisation indicates the severity of disease that needs further treatment, stabilisation of patients
or the need of isolation in order to prevent the spreading of the diseases to others. For the period of
2001-2017, the number of admissions in MoH Hospitals increased 35.4 per cent to 2,158,574 in 2017
from that of 1,594,175 in 2001. The 10 principal causes of hospitalization in the MoH Hospitals for
2017 are shown in Table 4. The diseases were regrouped to groupings based on the International
Statistical Classification of Disease 10 Revision (ICD-10). In 2017 “Pregnancy, childbirth and the
th
puerperium” (22.74 per cent) was the top cause of admissions in MoH hospitals followed by “Diseases
of the respiratory system” (13.29 per cent).

Table 4
10 Principal Causes of Hospitalisation in MoH Hospitals, 2017

Percentage to total
No Principal Causes
discharges (%)
1. Chapter XV: Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O99) 22.74
2 Chapter X: Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99) 13.29
3 Chapter I: Certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99) 8.37
Chapter XVI: Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period
4. 8.03
(P00-P96)
5. Chapter IX: Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-I99) 7.68
Chapter XIX: Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of
6. 6.82
external causes (S00-T98)
7. Chapter II: Neoplasms (C00-D48) 5.15
8. Chapter XI: Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K93) 4.69
9. Chapter XIV: Diseases of the genitourinary system (N00-N99) 4.04
10. Chapter XVIII: Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and 3.01
laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R99)

Note: Based on ICD-10 3 digit code grouping
Source: MyHDW Fixed Format Report for MoH Hospitals, 2017. Health Informatics Centre, MoH

The number of deaths (for all causes) in MoH Hospitals for the period of 2001 to 2017 increased 40.3
per cent from 32,751 in 2001 to 45,939 in 2017. Starting in 2014, tabulations for causes of death in
MoH Hospitals are based on the underlying cause of death, as per recommended by the World Health
Organisation (WHO). “Diseases of the circulatory system” was the top cause of death in MoH hospitals
recorded in 2017 (21.70 per cent), followed by “Diseases of the respiratory system” (19.32 per cent)
and “Neoplasms” (13.80 per cent). The 10 principal causes of deaths in the MoH Hospitals for 2017
are as shown in Table 5.

12 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 MINISTRY OF HEALTH MALAYSIA