Mortality - what Americans are dying of

[NOTE: 2006 data above was reported 06-11-08, 2002 data alluded to was reported as I started teaching health classes three years ago]

When you die - as everyone does sooner or later,

there is a 76% chance you will die of one of the

"Top 10 Causes of Death"

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I started teaching community college health classes 3 years ago. While preparing my lectures, I decided organize my course using a "Top 10 Countdown" theme featuring the most important causes of death reported by the CDC - i.e. how they kill you, warning signs, things that can increase your risk, and practical ways to decrease your risk of disease and premature death.

While nearly all my students were familiar with heart disease and cancer as the #1 and #2 causes of death (see table above), many were less familiar with the rest of the diseases on the list as causes of death and they were totally ignorant of mortality trends (see Page 8 of this report).

Heart disease has been the #1 cause of death in the US since the end of the influenza pandemic of 1918; however, that is about to change. Advances over the years in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention have dramatically reduced heart disease deaths; in fact, reported heart disease deaths have decreased 9.7% since I started teaching health classes just 3 years ago (see table above). Heart disease will soon drop to #2. There has been an even more marked decrease in the number of deaths due to stroke - #3 on the list [note: similar processes are involved in most heart attack deaths and stroke deaths].

Cancer, on the other hand, is different story. Cancer death rates are essentially unchanged from 50 years ago despite the fact that the US government declared war on cancer in 1971 and the National Cancer Institute has spent over $73 billion on cancer research since that war was declared. In its defense, research done by the NCI has extended the life of cancer victims, dramatically in some types of cancer, though "a cure" has yet to be found. Cancer will soon be #1 as the heart disease death rate drops below the cancer death rate.

Many people are surprised to learn that lung diseases other than lung cancer - e.g. chronic bronchitis and emphysema both of which are smoking-related - are the #4 cause of death. Others are equally surprised to see accidents are the #5 cause of death and that accidental deaths are up (even seat belts and airbags don't help when people drive too fast or are under the influence). Not surprisingly, accidents are the #1 cause of death for people age 1-39.

There is usually little change in the rankings of the various causes of death in the annual CDC mortality reports with one recent, notable exception - Alzheimer's disease. As recently as 1998, it didn't make the list (it was #12). In just 8 years it has moved up to #6; and since I started teaching 3 years ago, there has been a 23.9% increase in Alzheimer's deaths. With heart disease and stroke deaths down and cancer victims living longer, more people are living long enough to develop Alzheimer's disease.

Just one or two more observations on what Americans are dying of before I close. Many people don't take diabetes seriously, but it "officially" killed over 72,000 people in 2006 and undoubtedly "unofficially" killed many more as diabetes markedly increases the risk of heart attacks and stroke.

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Finally, many people don't take flu and pneumonia seriously either despite the fact that they killed over 56,000 people last year. How many of those deaths could have been prevented by a simple flu shot or pneumonia immunization?