Heart disease, especially among the elderly, remains the leading cause of death in the United States.
Cancer is a close second, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s annual National Vital Statistics report, released early
Thursday.
Of the 2.6 million deaths in the country in 2014 (the most recent data
available), close to half, 1.2 million, were from these two causes.
Chronic respiratory diseases, accidents and strokes make up the rest of
the top five. Alzheimer’s, diabetes, flu and pneumonia, which are
grouped together, kidney disease and suicide round out the top 10
killers.
"The big takeaway is that things have not changed a whole lot," said
Robert Anderson, chief of the CDC’s mortality statistics branch. "That
is both good, in that there were no negative surprises, and bad in that
there were no substantial drops in anything either."
Causes for death change depending on age. For example, accidents claim
more kids than any other reason. For those between 1 and 9 years old,
lethal accidents claimed 31.5% of those who died.
And 39.7% of those who died between the ages of 10 and 24 years old also succumbed to accidents.
It isn't until people reach 45 that the causes shift. For those between
45 and 64, cancer kills 30.5%. And it's in this age group that heart
disease, for the first time, becomes the second-leading cause of death.
At 65, heart disease becomes the No. 1 killer.
The vast majority of Americans who died in 2014, 1.9 million, were at least 65.
“Some of these deaths are not going to be preventable,” Anderson said. “We all have to die of something.”
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