Health
Status > Adolescents
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ADOLESCENT MORTALITY
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In 2004, 13,706 deaths were reported of adolescents
aged 15 to 19 years. After a moderate increase for this age group
in the early 1980s, death rates have since gradually declined. Unintentional
injury remains the leading cause of death among this age group and
accounted for 49.8 percent of all deaths among adolescents in 2004.
Homicide and suicide were the next leading causes of death, accounting
for 14.1 and 12.4 percent, respectively, of all deaths within this
age group.
Deaths Due to Injury. Within
the classification of deaths due to injury or other external causes,
motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of mortality among
15- to 19-year-olds in 2004, and accounted for 48 percent of injury-related
deaths among adolescents. Alcohol is a significant contributor to
these deaths: recent data suggest that nearly one-third of adolescent
drivers killed in crashes had been drinking. Firearms were the next
leading cause of injury death, accounting for 23 percent of injury-related
deaths in this age group. Adolescent death rates due to motor vehicle
injuries and firearms were similar in the early 1990s until 1994,
when they began to diverge. The rate of adolescent firearm deaths
was recorded at 12.0 per 100,000 population in 2004, less than half
the rate of motor vehicle injury deaths (24.7 per 100,000).
> Horizontal
Bar Chart: Leading Causes of Death Among Adolescents Aged
15-19: 2004
>
Horizontal Bar Chart: Deaths Due to Injury Among Adolescents
Aged 15-19: 2004
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