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Death rates decreased for top five leading causes of death

Issue: November 2012

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New data from the National Vital Statistics Reports reveal significant decreases in age-adjusted death rates from 2010 to 2011 for five of the 15 leading causes of death.

CVDs remained the top cause of death in 2011, despite a 3% decrease since 2010. Decreases were also recorded in deaths related to malignant neoplasms (–2.4%); cerebrovascular diseases (–3.1%); Alzheimer’s disease (–2%); and nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (–12.4%). “Deaths from [CVDs and malignant neoplasms] combined accounted for 47% of deaths in the United States in 2011,” according to the report.

However, data show that the age-adjusted death rate increased from 2010 to 2011 for six leading causes of death: chronic lower respiratory diseases (1.3%); diabetes (3.4%); influenza and pneumonia (4%); chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (3.2%); Parkinson’s disease (2.9%); and pneumonitis due to solids and liquids (3.9%).

The top leading causes of death remained the same in 2011 as in 2010, with the exception of two changes. Nephritis, nephrotic and nephrosis jumped from the eighth leading cause of death in 2010 to the ninth leading cause in 2011, and influenza and pneumonia jumped from the ninth leading cause in 2010 to the eighth leading cause in 2011.

In other findings, the preliminary number of deaths in the United States in 2011 was 2,513,171. The age-adjusted death rate “reached a record low” of 740.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2011 vs. 747 deaths per 100,000 people in 2010. The age-adjusted death rate decreased by 1.4% for men and 0.5% for women from 2010 to 2011. Additionally, life expectancy did not change from 2010 to 2011: 78.7 years.

The National Vital Statistics Reports present preliminary data on US deaths, death rates, life expectancy, leading causes of death and infant mortality for 2011. Data included in the report come from death records comprising more than 98% of demographic and medical files for all US deaths in 2011, according to the document.