Life insurance: liver disease is the most common cause of death

Talking about life insurance, more people are dying from liver disease in England, with a disproportionate number of forty-somethings falling victim.
New data shows that fatal problems with the organ now tend to kill people at a much younger age than other serious diseases, although the numbers dying from cancer and respiratory disease are greater.
One in 10 people in their 40s who died between 2001 and 2009 were killed by liver disease, with the bulk of deaths involving those under 70.
Overall, the total number of fatalities jumped 25 per cent over the period.
The figures, which appear in a National End of Life Care Intelligence Network report, also detail the fact that liver disease deaths are more common now thanks to increasing incidences of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and obesity.
The rise is contrary to the declining rates of other serious causes of death like heart disease and respiratory illness.
The report says 9,231 people died of liver disease in 2001 but 11,575 died of it in 2009. Three fifths of the deaths related to men.
Of the total number killed by the disease, of which there are around 100 different types, 90 per cent were under the age of 70.