Mortality
Declines for Several Leading Causes of Death in 1999
For Release
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Contact: NCHS Press Office
(301) 458-4800
CDC Office of Media Relations (404) 639-3286
E-mail: paoquery@cdc.gov
Deaths: Preliminary
Data for 1999. NVSR 49, No. 3. 49 pp. (PHS)
2001-1120. View/download PDF 403 KB
Mortality
for several leading causes of death declined in 1999, according to
preliminary figures from HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), released today by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.
The
report shows age-adjusted death rates continued to fall for heart disease
and cancer, the two leading causes of death in the United States that account for
more than one-half of all deaths in the country each year. In addition,
suicide, homicide, and firearm mortality dropped an estimated 6 percent
between 1998 and 1999.
At the
same time, there were increases for other leading causes of death,
including septicemia (6.6 percent); hypertension (5 percent); chronic
lower respiratory diseases (4 percent), and diabetes (3.3 percent).
These
estimates are featured in a new CDC report, "Deaths: Preliminary Data
for 1999," an analysis of over 99 percent of the death certificates
recorded in the United States for 1999.
"The
report gives us good news and bad news. We’re encouraged that fewer
Americans are dying from some of the leading causes of death and concerned
that other causes are taking a larger toll," said Secretary Thompson.
"Many of these deaths are preventable and too many Americans are
dying from preventable causes."
Mortality
from HIV infection, which dropped more than 70 percent over the previous 3
years (1996-98), continued this trend by decreasing nearly 4
percent in 1999. Though it is no longer ranked among the leading causes of
death in the United States, HIV infection still ranks fifth among 25-44 year-olds,
and is the leading cause of death for black men in this age group. Among
black women in this age group, HIV ranks third.
"We’re
paying very close attention to the trend in HIV mortality," said CDC
Director Jeffrey P. Koplan. "Although HIV as a cause of death has
dropped in rank in recent years, we must guard against complacency and
continue to emphasize prevention as a key weapon in fighting this
disease."
HIV
mortality declined 26 percent in 1996, 48 percent in 1997, and 21 percent
in 1998.
This
latest report incorporates several significant methodological changes,
including a more up-to-date age distribution for the U.S. population for
calculating age-adjusted death rates and an updated cause-of-death
classification and coding system (the Tenth Revision of the International
Classification of Diseases, issued by the World Health Organization
(ICD-10)).
While the five leading
causes of death in 1999: Heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower
respiratory disease (formally classified as "Chronic obstructive
pulmonary diseases and allied conditions"), and accidents
(unintentional injuries) remained unchanged from the previous year, some
significant changes did occur in the ranking of leading causes.
Suicide
dropped from 8th to 11th among leading causes of death as the number of
suicides in the United States fell more than 5 percent from 30,575 in 1998 to
29,041 in 1999.
The new
cause-of-death classification system also resulted in a significant shift
in ranking for Alzheimer’s disease. In 1998 Alzheimer’s disease
ranked 12th among leading causes of death but jumped to 8th in 1999, due
mainly to the inclusion of a cause of death formerly classified separately
as "presenile dementia," which accounted for a substantial
number of additional Alzheimer’s deaths in 1999. The 44,507 deaths from
Alzheimer’s disease in 1999 surpassed the totals for other major causes
of death, including motor vehicle accidents and breast cancer.
"The
new data on Alzheimer’s mortality adds to our understanding of the
magnitude of this serious problem," said Edward Sondik, director of
CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, which prepared the report.
"It is through improvements in our system that we’re able to more
accurately measure the impact of this disease and others on our
citizens," he said.
The
report also shows that the national infant mortality rate was 7.1 infant
deaths per 1,000 live births in 1999, compared with 7.2 in 1998. However,
the difference was not statistically significant.
Information
on causes of death is recorded on death certificates by physicians,
medical examiners, and coroners, and reported to the State vital
statistics offices. Demographic information is provided by funeral
directors, based on information from informants, who are usually family
members.
The report can be
viewed or downloaded from the CDC Web site.
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