About one-third of heart disease deaths and one-fifth of cancer deaths could be prevented if overall U.S. death rates were the same as those in the states with the lowest rates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported May 1.
By using an average of the three states with the lowest death rates as a benchmark for each of the five causes, the analysis showed that 91,757 deaths from heart disease could be prevented each year. For cancer, 84,443 deaths could be prevented annually, according to the CDC report (MMWR 2014;63:369-74).
The total number of potentially preventable deaths is around 100,000, because the figures for each cause cannot be added together because someone who doesn’t die of heart disease may die of cancer or stroke, CDC Director Tom Frieden noted in a press briefing. For the rest of the top five causes of death, the numbers of avoidable deaths were 36,836 for unintentional injuries, 28,831 for chronic lower respiratory disease, and 16,973 for cerebrovascular disease.
The report highlights "the enormous variability among states" when it comes to public health policy, he said, with deaths for all five causes highest in the Southeast.
"In this country, your health and safety are determined more by your ZIP code than your genetic code," Dr. Frieden said. "We need to move the needle on policy change and programmatic change."
The analysis used mortality data from 2008 to 2010 for those younger than age 80 years from the National Vital Statistics System.
