Data detailing a recent drop in the age-adjusted death rate and other positive trends regarding life expectancy and deaths in the United States were released in a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report, by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, provided preliminary data on deaths, death rates, life expectancy, leading causes of death, and infant mortality in the United States in 2007, based on information from almost 90% of the nation's death certificates.
In 2007, the life expectancy was 77.9 years, an increase from 77.7 years in 2006, which “represents a continuation of a trend,” according to a statement by the CDC. Life expectancy has increased by 1.4 years since 1997, when it was 76.5 years. Life expectancy at birth also rose, to 77.9 years, an increase of 0.2 years from 2006.
The age-adjusted death rate dropped to 760.3 deaths/100,000 population, from 776.5 deaths/100,000 population in 2006. This is half of what the rate was in 1947: 1,532/100,000 population.
There was a significant drop in age-adjusted death rates for 8 of the 15 leading causes of death, including heart disease (a 4.7% drop from 2007), cancer (1.8%), cerebrovascular diseases (4.6%), accidents (5%), diabetes mellitus (3.9%), influenza and pneumonia (8.4%), essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (2.7%), and homicide (6.5%), the CDC reported. Another positive trend was life expectancy for black men, which reached 70 years for the first time.
However, from 2006 to 2007, there were no significant changes in the age-adjusted death rates for Alzheimer's disease, septicemia, suicide, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, Parkinson's disease, and nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis.
But the death rate for chronic lower-respiratory diseases, the fourth leading cause of death, increased by 1.7% in 2007 from 2006.
Mortality from HIV/AIDS dropped by 10% between 2006 and 2007, “the biggest 1-year decline” since 1998, according to the CDC. In 2007, approximately 11,000 people died of HIV/AIDS, which remains the sixth-leading cause of death among people aged 25-44 years.
Infant mortality in 2007 was 6.77 infant deaths/1,000 live births, which is a statistically insignificant increase (1.2%) from 2006. In 2007, the leading cause of infant deaths was birth defects, followed by preterm birth and low birth weight, and the third leading cause, sudden infant death syndrome.
The full report, titled “Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2007,” is available at www.cdc.gov/nchs