Sad times for sure. 78 people die from opioid overdoses every day (a 28,470 annual rate). I found this on an NBC article (http://www.nbcnews.com/…/78-people-die-day-opioid-overdose-…) about the newly released Surgeon General’s report titled “Facing Addiction in America” (the full report can be found here https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/ ). Toward the end of the report’s executive summary are many references, one of which links to CDC Wonder. CDC Wonder (https://wonder.cdc.gov/) is an online database where one can find all kinds of interesting data. I saw it had the most recent report on the ten leading causes of death (2014) so, on a whim, downloaded it and then the 1994 report to see what’s changed in the last 20 years. From the US Census website (https://www.census.gov/) I found population data and incorporated it with the CDC info so I could calculate deaths per 100,000 (simple totals are misleading as the population grew a lot and disproportionally from 1994 to 2014).
Summary of what I found: (shown here as I wrote a lot)
The numbers indicate a few significant and unsurprising trends in health as the death rates per 100,000 for heart disease, cancer, strokes, and influenza and pneumonia dropped from 1994 to 2014 for all ages with these decreases being concentrated with the older populace. While the rate of death for diabetes increased it didn’t go up as much as I would have expected with the large rise in obesity since 1994 (perhaps a spike in diabetes-related deaths will come later?). It’s amazing to see HIV drop off the top 10 causes of death. I would not have guessed it used to be the leading cause of death for any age group twenty years ago but it was for those aged 35-44 in 1994. Alzheimer’s arrival on the 2014 top 10 list makes sense when factoring in the significant increase (40%) in the population aged 65 and older. Unintended injury causes of death decreased significantly for those aged 1-14 (less so for the 15-24 age group) and increased for just about everyone else (including babies under one sadly). Perhaps people are generally protecting their children better while also taking more risks in their own lives (maybe us adults are being hypocrites on personal safety… “Wrap the kids in bubble wrap, we’re going sky diving!”). The rates for the top ten causes of death for infants under one year old are still orders of magnitude higher (403.98) than for children aged one to four (17.17). I believe this more than justifies my fear of holding tiny infants.
Here's a link to the file I made in case anyone wants to take a poke around the numbers - https://drive.google.com/…/0BwxfRdGrnmvtYnFpbmF1OXc1Z…/view…
Some notable changes I found for each age group:
<1 – Deaths per 100,000 for most causes dropped. Notable exceptions are maternal pregnancy complications (33.90 to 39.61) and unintentional injuries (23.25 to 29.22) which both increased. SIDS dropped significantly from a rate of 106.53 to 38.88. Deaths by influenza, pneumonia, and intrauterine hypoxia fell off the top ten list from 1994 to 2014 and were replaced by circulatory system disease (9) and neonatal hemorrhage (10). The number one cause remained congenital anomalies but the rate per 100,000 dropped from 179.27 to 119.44. The total rate for the top 10 causes of death for infants under one year old dropped from 570.32 in 1994 to 403.98 in 2014.
1-4 yrs – Unintentional injury was the number 1 cause of death in 1994 and also 2014 though the rate halved from 15.82 to 7.62 (it might be noted that this 2014 rate is lower than all of the top 10 causes of death for infants under 1 year old – little babies are fragile!). Rates actually dropped for all the causes. HIV was number 6 in 1994 but isn’t on the 2014 top ten (yay!). Chronic low respiratory disease (lung disease) is new on the 2014 list. The total rate for the top 10 causes in death for those aged one to four years old dropped from 32.49 in 1994 to 17.17 in 2014.
5-9 yrs – Rates fell for all causes except for lung disease (0.21 to 0.33). The largest drop in rates was unintentional injury (still number one) from 8.31 to 3.56. HIV (6 in 1994) and Anemias (low red blood cells, 10 in 1994) dropped off the top ten list by 2014. Cerebrovascular (stroke, 8) and Septicemia (blood poisoning, 10) appeared on the list in 2014. The total rate for the top 10 causes of death per 100,000 for those aged five to nine years old dropped from 15.45 in 1994 to 8.73 in 2014.
10-14 yrs – Several different causes of death show up in this age group’s list for the first time including suicide and homicide. The rate for homicide dropped from 2.18 to 0.75 whereas the rate for suicide increased from 1.66 to 2.05. Unintentional injury remains the number one cause of death though the rate dropped significantly from 10.01 to 3.63. HIV (8) was replaced by influenza and pneumonia (8) on the 2014 list. The total rate for the top 10 causes of death per 100,000 for those aged 10 to 14 years old dropped from 19.88 in 1994 to 10.72 in 2014.
15-24 yrs – The rates fell across the board from 1994 to 2014 for this age group. Notable drops include unintentional injury (1 for both years) from 37.98 to 26.95 and homicide (2 in 1994, 3 in 2014) from 22.18 to 9.43. HIV (6 in 1994) once again fell off the list by 2014 and was replaced by diabetes (8 in 2014). The total rate for the top 10 causes of death per 100,000 for those aged 15 to 24 years old dropped from 85.93 in 1994 to 56.22 in 2014. Note that the total rate is over five times higher for this age group than the 10-14 age group.
25-34 yrs – For the first time the rate for unintentional injury (1 for both years) increased from 31.88 to 39.64. Rates for all other causes dropped or stayed flat. By far the largest drop came with HIV which went from 28.72 (2 in 1994) to 1.33 (8 in 2014). Note that the top 10 causes remain the same for 1994 and 2014 and the total rate per 100,000 dropped from 119.09 to 87.23.
35-44 yrs – Rates fell for most causes with the largest being HIV which went from 43.50 (1 in 1994) to 2.89 (9 in 2014). Malignant neoplasms (cancer) also saw a large drop from 39.91 to 27.78 (2 for both years). Unintentional injury jumped from 32.13 (3 in 1994) to 39.57 (1 in 2014). Smaller increases occurred for suicide (15.11 to 16.53) and diabetes (4.23 to 4.93). Once again the top 10 causes remain the same for 1994 and 2014 and the total rates per 100,000 dropped from 195.77 to 137.08.
45-54 yrs – For this age group rates related to health-related causes were a mixed bag. Cancer and heart disease (1 and 2 for both years) dropped from 141.77 to 103.47 and 109.36 to 80.29. Rate increases are seen in liver disease (16.40 to 19.91), diabetes (12.00 to 13.99), and lung disease (8.70 to 10.16). HIV (4 in 1994) again dropped off the list by 2014 and was replaced by blood poisoning (10 in 2014). The suicide rate also increased from 13.97 to 20.23. The total rate for the top 10 causes of death per 100,000 for those aged 444 to 55 years old dropped from 379.44 in 1994 to 320.06 in 2014.
55-64 yrs – With the exception of liver disease whose rate increased from 26.07 to 31.64 all other health-related causes for death experienced drops in rates per 100,000. The most significant decreases once again are seen for cancer and heart disease (1 and 2 for both years) from 420.71 to 285.16 and 326.83 to 184.21 respectively. Suicide rates increased again for this age group from 13.26 to 18.62. HIV dropped off the list (10 in 1994) and was replaced with blood poisoning (9 in 2014). The total rate per 100,000 for the top 10 causes of death for those aged 55 to 64 years old dropped from 974.56 in 1994 to 694.48 in 2014.
65+ yrs – For those 65 and older the overwhelmingly top two leading causes of death were heart disease and cancer for 1994 and 2014 though the rates dropped significantly (1,819.56 to 1,043.20 and 1,121.52 to 881.65 respectively). Other significant rate drops occurred with stroke and influenza and pneumonia (400.51 to 241.37 and 216.92 to 95.51). Alzheimer’s disease rates jumped from 54.31 to 197.26 (9 in 1994 to 5 in 2014). Increases in rates are also seen in unintentional injuries (84.41 to 102.88), nephritis (kidney disease, 58.63 to 85.12), and blood poisoning (49.01 to 62.04). The decreases in rates more than made up for the increases as the total rate per 100,000 for the top 10 causes of death for those aged 65+ dropped from 4,191.39 to 3,090.02.
All ages – Heart disease had the largest rate drop from 1994 to 2014 though remained the number one cause of death for all ages (276.89 to 191.93) just ahead of cancer (202.00 in 1994 and 184.86 in 2014). The rate of strokes also dropped from 57.96 to 41.58. Increases in rates occurred in lung disease (38.42 to 45.96), unintentional injury (34.57 to 42.51), diabetes (21.43 to 23.90), and suicide (11.77 to 13.36). Alzheimer’s disease (6 with a rate of 29.22) and kidney disease (9 with a rate of 15.04) replace HIV (8 in 1994) and liver disease (10 in 1994). For all ages the total rate per 100,000 for the top 10 causes of death dropped from 699.37 to 605.61.
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