CDC: 40 Percent of Premature Deaths From Leading Causes Can be Prevented

Each year nearly 40 percent of premature deaths can be prevented, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests.

The five killer diseases - stroke, heart diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and unintentional injuries - are marked as the leading causes of death among Americans, which prematurely kill nearly 900,000 citizens annually. The highest number of preventable deaths for each five causes was seen in Southeastern states.  According to the CDC reports, nearly 20-40 percent of these deaths can be prevented. 

The five leading causes together were responsible for 63 percent of all deaths in the United States in the year 2010. The rate of mortality for each cause varied greatly from state to state.

 In the latest report, the CDC officials examined the premature deaths  i.e. before age 80, from each cause for each state from 2008-2010.  After which they calculated the rate of mortality from each cause that could have been prevented if all the states witnessed the same death rate as the states with the lowest rate of mortality.

The study suggests that based on the lowest death rate in all states for each cause, it would be possible to prevent nearly 34 percent of premature deaths from heart diseases,  21 percent of premature cancer deaths and 39 percent of deaths of people with chronic lower respiratory disease. It would be possible to prevent  22 percent of premature stroke deaths and 39 percent from accidental injuries.

"As a doctor, it is heartbreaking to lose just one patient to a preventable disease or injury - and it is that much more poignant as the director of the nation's public health agency to know that far more than a hundred thousand deaths each year are preventable," said Tom Frieden, MD, MPH. "With programs such as the CDC's Million Hearts initiative, we are working hard to prevent many of these premature deaths."

It is impossible to tally together the preventable deaths from each cause to get an overall total because prevention of certain premature deaths may lead to people to a different cause of death.

Each leading cause of death can be averted with a slight adjustment to lifestyle and making the correct health choices. Heart diseases risk include use of tobacco, type 2 diabetes, obesity and a few others. Cancer includes many factors some of which are tobacco use, sun exposure, alcohol, poor diet , genetics, environment etc. A few of the chronic respiratory disease risks include indoor and outdoor air pollutants, allergens and tobacco smoke. Stroke risk consists of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, overweight, lack of physical activity etc. Risk factors for accidental injuries include unsafe consumer products, unsafe home and community environment and many more.

 Most of the risk factors can be avoided by making certain changes in personal behavior. 

"We think that this report can help states set goals for preventing premature death from the conditions that account for the majority of deaths in the United States," said Harold W. Jaffe, MD, the study's senior author and CDC's associate director for science. "Achieving these goals could prolong the lives of tens of thousands of Americans."

The finding was documented in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.