Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) records the number of deaths across the US — and the major diseases that Americans are dying from. We combed through this data to find the leading causes of death, as well as which conditions were different among men and women.
It’s too soon to tell. Health organizations haven’t yet released 2020 data around the usual leading causes of death — like heart disease. But the Center for Disease Control & Prevention has confirmed the coronavirus isn’t the leading cause of death in the US.
However, COVID-19 is the leading cause of death per day, according to a new report by Dr. Maria Danilychev, a San Diego-based physician. Relying on CDC data, her research found the disease causes 1,970 deaths nationwide per day — more than heart disease and cancer.
Around 80% of coronavirus cases don’t become serious, according to Johns Hopkins. For context, the pandemic has a case fatality rate — or the number of reported deaths divided by reported cases — of around 6.8% globally, according to the latest report on April 19, 2020, from the World Health Organization. That fatality rate goes up to as high as 13% for seniors over the age of 65 and people with pre-existing health risks related to respiratory issues.
To learn more about COVID-19 cases across the US, see updated data from the CDC.
The 10 leading causes of death in America
To crunch these numbers, we looked at the CDC’s latest mortality data released in 2020 and learned the top 10 leading causes of death didn’t change between 2017 and 2018. This means Americans are falling victim to the same diseases and health conditions year-after-year, and getting involved in a similar amount of accidents.
For both men and women, the leading causes of death were heart disease and cancer.
However, men had a higher incidence of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and suicide, while more women died from septicemia. These differences aside, the list of common deaths was made up of the usual suspects, including stroke, diabetes and pneumonia.
These were the 10 leading causes of death in the US — and they accounted for 73.8% of all deaths across the country.
What are chronic lower respiratory diseases (CLRDs)?
CLRDs are conditions that affect the lungs, such as:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — including emphysema and chronic bronchitis
Asthma
Pulmonary hypertension
Occupational lung diseases
While these diseases are typically associated with smoking, non-smokers can also contract them.
The top 10 causes of death for men
These were the leading causes of death among American men. As you’ll see, it’s fairly similar to the shared list — though more men died from liver disease than kidney disease.
As for American women, the incidence of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease was higher than that of men in 2018, and septicemia (aka blood poisoning) also made the list.
In good news, the average life expectancy for both men and women increased to 78.7 in 2018 — largely because the number of deaths from heart disease, cancer and accidents decreased that year.
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To learn about the leading causes of death among Americans, we turned to the CDC’s mortality data.
The CDC analyzes deaths and diseases each year, and published its most recent report in January 2020. The report focused on 2018, and we’ll update this page as new data is released.
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Bottom line
You may not know what’s going to happen in the future, but you can prepare for the unexpected by purchasing a life insurance policy. A good policy can protect your family financially if you pass away prematurely, and give you the peace of mind in knowing that your loved ones will be taken care of when you’re gone.
Katia Iervasi is a lead writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet and a former editor at Finder, specializing in insurance. Her writing and analysis on life, disability and health insurance has been featured in The Washington Post, Forbes, Yahoo, Entrepreneur, Best Company and FT Advisor. She holds a BA in communication from Australia's Griffith University. See full bio
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