Lung cancer killed almost four out of every 10 Maltese patients who died of respiratory diseases, figures out yesterday showed.

But lung cancer was the top respiratory disease killer across the EU, according to Eurostat, the EU statistical agency.

The figures for 2012 showed that respiratory diseases caused 476 deaths in Malta of which 39 per cent were due to lung cancer. More than 670,000 persons died from respiratory diseases in the EU.

Lung cancer was the most common cause of death in every EU member state except Greece and Portugal. Some 268,636 people died of the disease. 186,636 were men.

Pneumonia accounted for 24.6 per cent of the deaths

The risk of dying from a disease of the respiratory system was also higher for men than for women in all EU member states, except Denmark. In Malta 300 of those who died due to respiratory diseases were men.

This was mainly driven by a much greater number of deaths from lung cancer among the male population.

Bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and influenza were among the other respiratory diseases listed as common causes of death. Pneumonia accounted for 24.6 per cent of deaths from respiratory disease in Malta, followed by bronchitis which caused 11.3 per cent of the deaths. Asthma and influenza posed the least risk.