The State of Our Health - Causes Of Death By Race

In this panel we continue to look at causes of death in 1999, this time by racial categories. Again, by adding further distinctions, we have to expand the list of causes to a total of 14 to include all the races — this time by adding homicide and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus infection).

Hispanics, who may be of any race, are not broken out as a group in the graphic but are shown in a later table. The races have quite different profiles. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the leading causes of death for three of the four groups, in that order. The exception is American Indians. Amazingly, their third-ranking cause of death is accidents.

After the top three, significant differences appear. The graphic shows the rank that the race with the highest percentage of deaths had in the category. To illustrate, American Indians had the highest percentage of deaths from diabetes, and that category was their 4th highest cause of death. One cause is not ranked — septicemia. Blacks had the highest percent of death in the category of the races, but septicemia did not make the top 10 among African Americans.

Sad highlights: Among those who died of heart disease, influenza/pneumonia, and Alzheimer's, whites had the highest percentage. African Americans topped other races in kidney diseases, septicemia, homicide, and HIV. American Indians led in accidents, diabetes, suicide, and liver disease. Asians and Pacific Islanders had the highest rates of deaths from cancer and from stroke.

The overall pattern, of course, is much the same for all the racial groups, but the differences illustrate that there are causes of death that predominate a little more in groups that are poor and — perhaps for that reason — suffer more social dysfunction. High rates of accidental deaths and suicides among American Indians and of homicide and HIV infection among blacks illustrate one end of the spectrum. Leading roles in heart disease, cancer, stroke, and respiratory diseases point more toward causes that accompany wealth and excesses in consumption.

A look at a group that is generally poorer than the national average but may be of any race, the population of Hispanic origin, will further substantiate this observation. The following table shows the leading causes of death for Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic blacks. Data show causes of death in descending rank order for Hispanics and corresponding ranks by the two other groups.

Causes of Death Ranked:
Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks

Cause of Death	Hispanics	Whites	Blacks
Heart disease	1	1	1
Cancer	2	2	2
Accidents	3	5	4
Stroke	4	3	3
Diabetes	5	7	5
Liver disease	6	…	…
Homicide	7	…	8
Respiratory ailments	8	4	6
Influenza/pneumonia	9	6	10
Adverse perinatal conditions	10	…	…
… indicates that cause did not reach top 10.

Adverse conditions originating in the perinatal period (near time of birth) affect the newborn, either because of maternal conditions or developmental or other causes. The fact that this cause makes it to the top ten among Hispanics indicates a high incidence of neonatal deaths. Among Hispanics, this cause accounted for 2.1% of all deaths — among African Americans for 1.8%, among whites for 0.3%.

Note that among Hispanics accidents are the third highest cause of death and homicide is ranked 7th, higher than among African Americans. But among this grouping of the population, as among all, the top four are still heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Only among American Indians is stroke ranked in 5th place.

We look, finally, more closely at infant deaths. Infant deaths are included in the statistics shown to this point, but to look at causes, we must separate the category from the much more numerous adults who pass on.

Source: Anderson, Robert N. "Deaths: Leading Causes for 1999." National Vital Statistics Reports. v. 49, no. 11. 12 October 2001. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.