The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made public the five leading causes of death among Americans. Heart disease and cancer are the two main reasons why Americans under the age of 80 die.
About two-thirds of deaths in the United States were caused by these five conditions, and most of them were preventable cases. However, there is good news. The same report stated that the number of preventable deaths from 2010 to 2014 actually decreased.
Most Common Causes Of Death
After heart disease and cancer, the most common causes of deaths among Americans include stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases and accidents. However, the CDC also notes that many of the deaths that occurred as a result of these conditions could have been prevented.
When it comes to heart disease, for instance, as much as 30 percent of the deaths it caused were preventable, while 15 percent of those caused by cancer were avoidable. But accidental deaths registered a higher prevention rate as 43 percent of them could have been avoided.
Among these reported declines, there was a 25 percent drop in deaths caused by cancer and an 11 percent reduction in fatal strokes. However, within the same interval, unintentional injuries have multiplied, increasing by 23 percent, while deaths caused by lower respiratory disease grew 1 percent during the period.
Accidental Deaths: Still A Problem
While deaths among young Americans have decreased significantly, according to CDC Director Tom Frieden, the same cannot be said for deaths caused by drug overdose.
"Tragically, deaths from overdose are increasing because of the opioid epidemic," Frieden explains, "and there are still large differences between states in all preventable causes of death, indicating that many more lives can be saved through use of prevention and treatment available today."
In August, for instance, the police in West Virginia had to respond to as many as 26 heroin overdose cases in a span of only four hours. Opioid overdose has become a pressing issue in the U.S. in the past decade.
Although authorities have conducted campaigns to raise awareness and for people to start taking precautions and know first aid, such as using Naloxone to reverse the effects of overdose, the fact remains that these cases have increased by the year.
According to the CDC, the number of overdose cases that have been reported have multiplied fourfold since 1999, and in 2014 alone, 14,000 people died of overdose.
The National Safety Council reported that accidental deaths among Americans reached a new high, with a total of 136,000 cases recorded in 2014. In the past decade, accidental deaths increased by 15.5 percent.
