Life expectancy declines slightly according to latest CDC deaths report
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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Stroke is now the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, down from the third place ranking it has held for decades, according to preliminary 2008 death statistics released today by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. While deaths from stroke and several other chronic diseases are down, deaths due to chronic lower respiratory disease increased in 2008.
There were 133,750 deaths from stroke in 2008. Age-adjusted death rates
from stroke declined 3.8 percent between 2007 and 2008. Meantime, there
were 141,075 deaths from chronic lower respiratory disease and the death
rate increased by 7.8 percent.
Some of the increase in deaths may be due to a modification made by the
World Health Organization in the way deaths from chronic lower
respiratory diseases are classified and coded. The National Center for
Health Statistics will conduct a thorough analysis on this change and
its effect on the chronic lower respiratory disease category before the
final 2008 deaths data are released.
“Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2008,” also finds that life expectancy at
birth dropped slightly to 77.8 years from 77.9 years in 2007. Life
expectancy was down by one-tenth of a year (a little over a month) for
both men and women. However, black males had a record high life
expectancy in 2008 of 70.2 years – up from 70 years in 2007. The life
expectancy gap between the white and black populations was 4.6 years in
2008, a decrease of two-tenths of a year from 2007.
The data are based on 99 percent of death certificates reported to NCHS
through the National Vital Statistics System from all 50 states, the
District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
Other findings:
* Heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death, still
accounted for nearly half (48 percent) of all deaths in 2008.
* In addition to stroke, mortality rates declined significantly
for five of the other 15 leading causes of death:
accidents/unintentional injuries (3.5 percent), homicide (3.3 percent),
diabetes (3.1 percent), heart disease (2.2 percent), and cancer (1.6
percent).
* In addition to chronic lower respiratory disease, death rates
increased significantly in 2008 for Alzheimer’s disease (7.5 percent),
influenza and pneumonia (4.9 percent), high blood pressure (4.1
percent), suicide (2.7 percent), and kidney disease (2.1 percent).
* The preliminary infant mortality rate for 2008 was 6.59 infant
deaths per 1,000 live births, a 2.4 percent decline from the 2007 rate
of 6.77 and an all-time record low. Birth defects were the leading
cause of infant death in 2008, followed by disorders related to preterm
birth and low birth weight. Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) was the
third leading cause of infant death in the United States.
* Overall, there were 2,473,018 deaths in the United States in
2008, according to the preliminary deaths report — 49,306 more deaths
than the 2007 total.
* The age-adjusted death rate for the U.S. population fell to
758.7 deaths per 100,000 in 2008 compared to the 2007 rate of 760.2.
The full report is available at www.cdc.gov/nchs.
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