Homicide Drops From List of Top 15 Leading Causes of Death
Murder has dropped off the list of top 15 causes of death in the United States, for the first time in almost 50 years.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 2010 homicide was overtaken by pneumonitis as the 15th leading cause of death in the country. Pneumonitis is a lung condition where food or vomit goes down the windpipe. It mainly happens in the elderly.
In 1965, homicide dropped off the list of leading 15 causes of death.
Infant mortality rate also dropped in 2010 from 6.39 deaths per 1,000 births in 2009 to 6.14 deaths per 1,000 births. Life expectancy for a child born in 2010 was 78 years and 8 months, up more than one month from the life expectancy for children born in 2009.
Death rates for the five leading causes of death – stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease, blood infection, pneumonia and accidents – also dropped in 2010.
Heart disease and cancer deaths also went down, but still remain the top killers in the country, accounting for more than a million deaths in 2010.
Death rates for Alzheimer’s disease, kidney disease, chronic liver disease, Parkinson’s disease and pneumonitis increased in 2010.
The 15 leading causes of death in 2010:
- Heart diseases – 178.5 deaths per 100,000
- Cancer – 172.5 deaths per 100,000
- Chronic respiratory diseases – 42.1 deaths per 100,000
- Stroke – 39.0 deaths per 100,000
- Unintended injuries – 37.1 deaths per 100,000
- Alzheimer’s disease – 25.0 deaths per 100,000
- Diabetes – 20.8 deaths per 100,000
- Nephritis – 15.3 deaths per 100,000
- Influenza/Pneumonia – 15.1 deaths per 100,000
- Suicide – 11.9 deaths per 100,000
- Septicemia – 10.6 deaths per 100,000
- Chronic liver disease – 9.4 deaths per 100,000
- Hypertension – 7.9 deaths per 100,000
- Parkinson’s disease – 6.8 deaths per 100,000
- Pneumonitis – 5.1 deaths per 100,000