Death
Rates
Fall
for
Heart
Disease,
Cancer
and
Other
Leading
Causes
of
Death
in
1999
Alzheimer's
Jumps
to
8th
in
New
Classification
June
26,
2001
-
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
U.S.
that
account
for
more
than
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
Sec.
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
three
years
(1996-1998),
continued
this
trend
by
decreasing
nearly
4
percent
in
1999.
Though
it
is
no
longer
ranked
among
the
leading
causes
of
death
in
the
U.S.,
HIV
infection
still
ranks
5th
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
U.S.
fell
more
than
five
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
found
on-line
at
the
CDC
web
site:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs.
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