Trends in the US death rate

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

The death rate from all causes decreased by 32 per cent among US citizens between 1970 and 2002 but there have been increases in deaths from diabetes and chronic lung disease.
People are living longer but underlying an overall decrease in the death rate are trends which reflect changes in public health. A team at the American Cancer Society now reports upon these trends from 1970 to 2002. They have looked at the six leading causes of death - heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), accidents (related to transport and from other causes) and diabetes.

The largest decreases have been from stroke - a 63 per cent decrease - and heart disease - a 52 per cent decrease. The death rate from accidents has gone down by 41 per cent. There was a small increase then a decrease in deaths from cancer. But the death rate from COPD has doubled and that from diabetes has gone up by 45 per cent. Overall, death rates are down but the absolute number of deaths is going up - however, the deaths are occurring at older ages. The fact that death rates are down for four of the six leading causes suggests significant progress has been made in improving public health and increasing the number of years of healthy life. But clearly progress still has to be made in cutting the toll from COPD and diabetes.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 14th September 2005 Volume 294 pages 1255-1259