Causes of death in the USA
02 Apr 2004
In 2000, the most common actual causes of death in the United States were
tobacco (435,000), poor diet and physical inactivity (400,000), alcohol
consumption (85,000), microbial agents (e.g., influenza and pneumonia,
75,000), toxic agents (e.g., pollutants and asbestos, 55,000), motor vehicle
accidents (43,000), firearms (29,000), sexual behavior (20,000) and illicit
use of drugs (17,000).
Actual causes of death are defined as lifestyle and behavioral such as
smoking and physical inactivity that contribute to this nation�s leading
killers including heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
CDC�s Prevention Activities that Target Actual Causes of Death
CDC has initiated numerous activities and programs aimed at addressing the
behavior and lifestyle factors that contribute to deaths from this nation�s
leading killers including heart disease, cancer, and stroke. These
factors �actual causes of death.�
Tobacco Use, Smoking, and Health
CDC supports programs to prevent and control tobacco use in all 50 states,
the District of Columbia, seven territories, and seven tribal support
centers.
CDC funds nine national networks to reduce tobacco use among eight priority
populations and funds 23 states for coordinated school health programs to
help prevent tobacco use.
HHS establishes a national network of quitlines. CDC in conjunction with
National Cancer Institute (NCI) is working on a national network of
quitlines to ensure that smokers throughout the United States have access to
toll-free quitline services, regardless of their geographic location or
economic status.
Obesity, Nutrition, and Physical Activity
CDC supports the development of effective prevention and treatment
srategies through state obesity programs, state coordinated school health
programs, partnerships, and an applied research agenda to develop and refine
new approaches.
Currently, CDC provides funding to 20 states to prevent and reduce the
prevalence of obesity and the chronic diseases associated with obesity.
CDC supports states in developing and testing nutrition and physical
activity interventions to prevent obesity through strategies that focus on
multiple levels of change including individual, environment, and policy.
CDC funds 23 states to manage statewide coordinated school health programs.
These programs address a range of health issues including tobacco use, poor
nutrition, physical inactivity, and asthma.
CDC�s Youth Media Campaign supports a comprehensive communications approach
designed to encourage young people aged 9�13 years to adopt healthy
behaviors, especially physical activity. Alcohol
CDC supports public health surveillance on alcohol-related conditions and
alcohol use, particularly binge drinking; conducts and supports applied
research to characterize the public health impact of alcohol misuse and to
evaluate the effectiveness of alcohol control measures; and supports the
building of state capacity to prevent excessive drinking.
CDC also conducts public health research to develop effective
evidence-based interventions to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies and to
improve long-term outcomes for children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
and Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ARND), and provides
information and training to medical and allied health professionals,
teachers and the public on all aspects of prenatal alcohol exposure and its
outcomes.
In addition, CDC is assessing the role of alcohol in unintentional injuries
(including motor vehicle crashes) and violence, and evaluating the
effectiveness of screening and brief intervention strategies in reducing
risky drinking behavior among persons treated in acute care settings. Also,
CDC�s Task Force of Community Preventive Services is conducting systematic
reviews of the effectiveness of community-based interventions to reduce
alcohol-impaired driving.
Microbial Diseases
CDC�s strategy for combating infectious diseases focuses on building
domestic and global capacity for recognizing and responding to infectious
disease threats.
To ensure the health of U.S. citizens everywhere, CDC�s infectious disease
funding supports surveillance, epidemic investigations, research, training,
and public education in all 50 states and across the globe.
CDC recently established seven domestic and global sentinel surveillance
networks linking health care providers to detect and monitor emerging
diseases.
Overuse of antibiotics has become a serious problem leading to
antimicrobial resistance. CDC�s �Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work�
campaign addition, 70 percent of the bacteria that cause hospital-acquired infections
are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used to treat them.
CDC is also working to prevent antimicrobial resistance in health care
settings with a comprehensive campaign targeted to clinicians in hospitals
and long-term care settings.
Toxic Agents
Through its biomonitoring efforts, CDC is working to determine which
environmental chemicals get into people�s bodies and at what levels.
CDC is assessing the effectiveness of public health efforts to reduce
people�s exposure to specific chemicals, determining whether exposure levels
are higher among minorities, children, women of childbearing age, or other
potentially vulnerable groups.
CDC is also tracking trends in levels of people�s exposure to environmental
chemicals and setting priorities for research on human health effects of
exposure to environmental chemicals.
CDC is funding schools of public health to support state and local health
departments and to investigate possible links between the health and the
environment. CDC has also funded projects in nine states and New York City
that will link environmental exposure and health effects data. Motor Vehicle
Accidents
To assess which community-based interventions are effective in reducing
motor vehicle injuries, CDC and the Task Force on Community Preventive
Services, an independent, nonfederal panel of community health experts,
published systematic reviews of the literature and a set of evidence-based
recommendations on community-level interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired
driving, increase child safety seat use, and increase safety belt use.
CDC is funding two state health departments and three Native American
tribes to implement and evaluate effective community-based interventions
selected from the Guide to Community Prevention Services to reduce motor
vehicle-related injuries and deaths in their communities.
Firearms-related Violence
Firearms are involved in more than half of all homicides (55.9%) and
suicides (55.1%) in the United States. Homicide and suicide account for more
than 46,000 deaths each year in the United States. CDC supports programs to
prevent violence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and nine
territories.
CDC is funding two states to develop suicide prevention programs. In these
states injury prevention experts are designing and implementing suicide
prevention programs specific to their needs. This funding provides the
necessary resources to advance from data gathering and analysis to
identifying best practices for suicide prevention.
Sexual Behavior
CDC funds several adolescent and school-based health programs in 48 states,
7 territories, and 18 large cities to plan, carry out, and evaluate HIV
prevention programs. These programs provide young people with the skills and
knowledge needed to avoid infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted
diseases.
CDC provides national leadership in helping to control the HIV epidemic by
working with community, state, local, and international partners. Strategies
to reduce HIV infection include monitoring the epidemic to ensure that
prevention activities reach those people who need it most, researching the
effectiveness of prevention methods, funding local efforts for high-risk
communities and linking infected individuals with care, treatment, and
prevention programs.
Through CDC�s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program,
uninsured and under-served women are screened for cervical cancer, which is
associated with infection with human papillomavirus, a sexually-transmitted
disease.
Illicit Drug Use CDC conducts a national survey, the School Health Policy
and Programs Study, to help policymakers assess school health policies and
programs at the state, district, school, and classroom levels designed to
address alcohol and illicit drug use.
Steps to a Healthier US
CDC is working in conjunction with other HHS agencies on the HHS
Secretary�s initiative, �Steps to a HealthierUS,� which is designed to help
Americans live longer, better, and healthier lives through healthier
lifestyle choices.
The Steps to a HealthierUS cooperative agreement program awarded $15
million (FY2003) and $44 million (FY2004) to urban, rural, and tribal
communities throughout the United States.
The funding is used to implement chronic disease prevention efforts focused
on reducing the burden of diabetes, overweight, obesity, and asthma and the
three related risk factors for chronic disease nutrition, and tobacco use.
Tracking Trends in Health Behaviors
CDC tracks trends in various health-related behaviors through the
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a telephone survey
system conducted by health departments in all 50 states, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. The BRFSS is the
primary national source of state- and territory-specific information about
health-related behaviors among adults. The surveys can be tailored to meet
the needs of individual states and territories.
CDC collects Selected Metropolitan and Micropolitan Area Risk Trends
(SMART) data, which are derived from BRFSS data and used to assess health
behaviors in local communities. SMART data is currently available for 98
metropolitan areas and counties within those areas. The data are used to
assist local communities identify emerging health problems, plan and
evaluate local responses, and allocate resources efficiently to meet
specific needs.
CDC monitors national patterns and trends in health behaviors and risk
factors, such as alcohol and tobacco use and physical activity in the
National Health Interview Survey.
This survey findings that can be analyzed by many characteristics such as race, age,
gender, education, and income to identify groups at greatest risk.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey collects data on the
prevalence of obesity, overweight, high cholesterol, and many other
physiological measurements through standardized physical examinations.
This survey produces unique data on conditions that were previously
undiagnosed and the most accurate data on overweight and obesity prevalence.
To obtain Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000, visit JAMA�s
Web site at www.jama.ama-assn.org.
.* For more information on CDC�s program
efforts, including tobacco control, nutrition, physical activity, and other
health behaviors and prevention strategies, visit CDC�s Web site at
www.cdc.gov.
* Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to
our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC
or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not
responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found
at this link.
From:
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/factsheets/death_causes2000.htm
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