Traffic Safety Facts-Research Note-Leading Causes of Death in the U.S.-DOT HS 809 695

Top 10 Leading Causes of Death in the United States for 2001, by Age Group¹

R A N K	Cause and Number of Deaths											Years of Life Lost²
	Infants Under 1	Toddlers 1-3	Young Children 4-7	Children 8-15	Youth 16-20	Young Adults 21-24	Other Adults			Elderly 65+	All Ages
	Infants Under 1	Toddlers 1-3	Young Children 4-7	Children 8-15	Youth 16-20	Young Adults 21-24	25-34	35-44	45-64	Elderly 65+	All Ages
1	Perinatal Period 13,734	Congenital Anomalies 496	MV Traffic Crashes 533	MV Traffic Crashes 1,546	MV Traffic Crashes 5,979	MV Traffic Crashes 4,136	MV Traffic Crashes 6,759	Malignant Neoplasms 16,569	Malignant Neoplasms 139,785	Heart Disease 582,730	Heart Disease 700,142	Malignant Neoplasms 23% (8,614,131)
2	Congenital Anomalies 5,513	MV Traffic Crashes 421	Malignant Neoplasms 400	Malignant Neoplasms 829	Homicide 2,414	Homicide 2,738	Homicide 5,204	Heart Disease 13,326	Heart Disease 98,885	Malignant Neoplasms 390,214	Malignant Neoplasms 553,768	Heart Disease 22% (8,110,571)
3	Heart Disease 479	Accidental Drowning 393	Exposure to smoke/fire 178	Suicide 447	Suicide 1,879	Suicide 1,924	Suicide 5,070	MV Traffic Crashes 6,891	Stroke 15,518	Stroke 144,486	Stroke 163,538	MV Traffic Crashes 5% (1,700,952)
4	Homicide 332	Homicide 362	Congenital Anomalies 168	Homicide 391	Malignant Neoplasms 814	Accidental Poisoning 771	Malignant Neoplasms 3,994	Suicide 6,635	Diabetes 14,913	Chronic Lwr. Resp. Dis. 106,904	Chronic Lwr. Resp. Dis. 123,013	Stroke 5% (1,687,683)
5	Septicemia 312	Malignant Neoplasms 321	Accidental Drowning 164	Congenital Anomalies 324	Accidental Poisoning 566	Malignant Neoplasms 768	Heart Disease 3,160	HIV 5,867	Chronic Lwr. Resp. Dis. 14,490	Influenza/ Pneumonia 55,518	Diabetes 71,372	Chronic Lwr. Resp. Dis. 4% (1,444,745)
6	Influenza/ Pneumonia 299	Heart Disease 200	Homicide 133	Accidental Drowning 293	Heart Disease 398	Heart Disease 543	Accidental Poisoning 2,507	Accidental Poisoning 5,036	Chronic Liver Disease 13,009	Diabetes 53,707	Influenza/ Pneumonia 62,034	Suicide 3% (1,079,822)
7	MV Traffic Crashes 139	Exposure to smoke/fire 170	Heart Disease 82	Heart Disease 273	Accidental Drowning 326	Accidental Drowning 211	HIV 2,101	Homicide 4,268	Suicide 9,259	Alzheimer's 53,245	Alzheimer's 53,852	Perinatal Period 3% (1,070,154)
8	Nephritis/ Nephrosis 139	Septicemia 96	MV NonTraffic Crashes 51	Exposure to smoke/fire 140	Congenital Anomalies 244	Congenital Anomalies 206	Stroke 601	Chronic Liver Disease 3,336	MV Traffic Crashes 8,750	Nephritis/ Nephrosis 33,121	MV Traffic Crashes 42,443	Diabetes 3% (1,014,201)
9	Stroke 108	Influenza/ Pneumonia 92	Benign Neoplasms 46	MV NonTraffic Crashes 125	Accidental Falls 114	HIV 167	Diabetes 595	Stroke 2,491	HIV 5,437	Septicemia 25,418	Nephritis/ Nephrosis 39,480	Homicide 3% (924,263)
10	Meningitis 78	Perinatal Period 63	Septicemia 33	Chronic Lwr. Resp. Dis. 102	Acc. Dischg. of Firearms 114	Accidental Falls 134	Congenital Anomalies 458	Diabetes 1,958	Nephritis/ Nephrosis 5,106	Hypertension Renal Dis. 16,397	Septicemia 32,238	Chronic Liver Disease 2% (623,998)
A³ L L	27,568	4,288	2,703	6,672	15,851	14,940	41,683	91,674	412,204	1,798,420	2,416,425	All Causes 100% (36,866,317)

¹When ranked by specific ages, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for age 2 and every age 4 through 33.

² Number of years calculated based on remaining life expectancy at time of death; percents calculated as proportion of total years of life lost due to all causes of death.

³ Not a total of top 10 causes of death.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) CDC, Mortality Data 2001

Note: The cause of death classification is based on the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) Revised 68 Cause of Death listing. This listing differs from the one used by the NCHS for its reports on leading causes of death by separating out unintentional injuries into separate causes of death, i.e., motor vehicle traffic crashes, accidental falls, motor vehicle nontraffic crashes, etc. Accordingly, the rank of some causes of death will differ from those reported by the NCHS. This difference will mostly be observed for minor causes of death in smaller age groupings.

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Top 10 Leading Causes of Death in the United States for 2001, by Age Group1

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Top 10 Leading Causes of Death in the United States for 2001, by Age Group¹

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