Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 2.3
(
continued
)
Rank
Cause of Death
Deaths per
100,000
Population
a
Percentage
of All
Deaths
9
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and
nephrosis
14.5
1.8
10 Septicemia 11.4 1.4
11 All other and ill-defined causes 22.0
Sources:
For 1960 data:
President's Science Advisory Committee Panel on Chemicals, Chemicals
and Health
, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) Washington, DC, 1973, p. 152; DHEW, PHS,
“Facts of Life and Death,” DHEW Pub. No. (HRA) 74 - 1222, GPO, Washington, DC, 1974, p. 31.
For 1900 and 2004 data: “National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
National Vital Statistics Report, Deaths: Final Data for 2004
, Vol. 55(9), August 2007.
Cause of death is based on
International Classification of Diseases
, 10th rev. 1992, WHO, Geneva.
a
Crude death rate. Cannot be compared among populations differing in relative age distribution.
Does not reflect high percentage of older population dying of natural causes.
b
Violence would add 1.4%; horse, vehicle, and railroad accidents provide 0.8%.
c
Violence would add 1.5%; motor vehicle accidents provide 2.3%; railroad accidents provide less
man 0.1%.
d
Birth injuries, asphyxia, infections of newborn, ill-defined diseases, immaturity, etc.
occurred in 1973, 356,000 were attributed to cancer. Two-thirds of those saved
lives, according to Taeuber, would have died of heart conditions or strokes.
15
It
would seem, then, that a general improvement in the “quality of life” to slow
down premature aging, together with prevention and control of the noninfec-
tious as well as communicable diseases, will accomplish a greater increase in
life expectancy than concentrating
solely
on elimination of the major causes of
death; there will always be a list of the top then causes of death. This appears to
be a sound approach since it is known that “mortality levels are determined by
the complicated interplay of a variety of sociocultural, personal, biological, and
medical factors” (ref. 14, p. 966). However, if the causes of a disease are also
contributing factors to other diseases, then elimination of the cause of one disease
may, at the same time, eliminate or reduce morbidity and mortality from other
diseases, thereby resulting in an additional overall increase in life expectancy.
For example, the ready availability of clean water can not only greatly reduce
gastrointestinal diseases but also promote personal hygiene and cleanliness, pre-
vent impetigo, reduce stress, and save time. Better nutrition can reduce mortality
due to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, but it would also improve
resistance to certain infectious diseases, reduce birth defects, stunted physical
growth, and subtle cognitive deficits, leading to a greater earning potential at the
individual level and more productivity and economic security at the population
level.
In developed countries, thousands of deaths due to preventable diseases
occur each year. Some of these diseases are chronic in nature, and the incidence
could be reduced through behavioral interventions (e.g., increased seat belt use,
