Death and the National Center for Health Statistics
Leading Causes of Death
CDC/ATSDR's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is the Nation's principal health statistics agency. NCHS compiles statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the health of the Nation's people. NCHS' health statistics document the health status of the population and of important subgroups; identify disparities in health status and use of health care by race, ethnicity, SES, region, and other population gradients; describe people's experiences with the health care system; monitor trends in health status and health care delivery; identify health problems; support biomedical and health services research; provide information for making changes in public policies and programs; and evaluate the impact of health policies and programs.
The leading causes of death are frequently used to describe the health status of the Nation. The Nation has seen a great deal of change over the past 100 years in the leading causes of death. At the beginning of the 1900s, infectious disease ran rampant in the United States and worldwide and topped the leading causes of death. A century later, with the control of many infectious agents and the increasing age of the population, chronic diseases top the list.
A very different picture emerges when the leading causes of death are viewed for various subgroups. Unintentional injuries, mainly motor vehicle crashes, are the fifth leading cause of death for the total population,1 but they are the leading cause of death for people aged 1 to 44 years.2 Similarly, HIV/AIDS is the 14th leading cause of death for the total population3 but the leading cause of death for African American men aged 35 to 44 years.4
According to NCHS, the following are the ten leading causes of death in the U.S. in 2000 for all Americans:
1. Heart disease
2. Cancer
3. Stroke
4. Chronic lower respiratory disease
5. Unintentional injuries
6. Diabetes
7. Influenza and Pneumonia
8. Alzheimer's disease
9. Nephritis, Nephrotic syndrome, and Nephrosis
10. Septicemia
Source: Health, U.S., 2002, Table 32.
Sources:
1 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), 2000.
2 NCHS, Health, United States, 2002, Table 33.
3 NCHS, 2000.
4 National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP), 2002.
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