Hospitals & Asylums
Leading Causes of Death in the USA HA-29-7-05
Leading causes
of death differ somewhat by age, sex, and race. In 2001, as in previous years,
accidents were the leading cause of death for those under 34 years, while in
older age groups chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease were the
leading causes. The top three causes for males and females—heart disease,
cancer, and stroke—are exactly the same. However, suicide and chronic liver
disease ranked 8th and 10th for males but were not ranked among the ten leading
causes for females. Similarly, Alzheimer's disease ranked 7th for females but
was not among the top ten for males. For white males aged 15–34, the top two
causes were accidents and suicide, while for black males in the same age group,
the top two causes of death were homicide and accidents.
|
Rank |
Causes of
Death |
Number |
Death per
100,000 |
|
|
All Causes |
2,416,425 |
848.5 |
|
1 |
Diseases of
the Heart |
700,142 |
245.8 |
|
2 |
Malignant
neoplasms (cancer) |
553,768 |
194.4 |
|
3 |
Cerebrovascular
diseases |
163,538 |
57.4 |
|
4 |
Chronic lower
respiratory diseases |
123,013 |
43.2 |
|
5 |
Accidents
(unintentional injuries) |
101,537 |
35.7 |
|
6 |
Diabetes
mellitus |
71,372 |
25.1 |
|
7 |
Influenza and
pneumonia |
62,034 |
25.1 |
|
8 |
Alzheimer’s
disease |
53,852 |
18.9 |
|
9 |
Nephritis,
nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis |
39,480 |
13.9 |
|
10 |
Septicemia |
32,238 |
11.3 |
|
11 |
Suicide |
30,622 |
10.8 |
|
12 |
Chronic liver
disease and cirrhosis |
27,035 |
9.5 |
|
13 |
Homicide |
20,308 |
7.1 |
|
14 |
Hypertension
and hypertensive renal disease |
19,250 |
6.8 |
|
15 |
Pneumonitis
due to solids and liquids |
17,301 |
6.1 |
|
|
All other
diseases |
400,935 |
140.8 |
For more
Complete Statistical Data on the
Trends in the Health of Americans with Special Feature on Drugs 2004 ed.
Medically Caused
Deaths Per Year in the US
These total to 250,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes!! These
estimates of death due to error are lower than those in a recent Institutes of
Medicine report, and if the higher estimates are used, the deaths due to
iatrogenic causes would range from 230,000 to 284,000. Even at the lower
estimate of 225,000 deaths per year, this constitutes the third leading cause
of death in the
Journal American Medical Association