Annual Causes of Death, By Cause
Cause of death (Data from 2013 unless otherwise noted)
All Causes 2,596,993
Major Cardiovascular Diseases [MCD] 796,494
Cerebrovascular Diseases [subset of MCD] 128,978
Essential Hypertension and Hypertensive Renal Disease [subset of MCD] 30,770
Malignant Neoplasms [Cancer] 584,881
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases 149,205
Accidents (Unintentional Injuries) [Total] 130,557
Motor Vehicle Accidents [subset of Total Accidents] 35,369
Alzheimer’s Disease 84,767
Diabetes Mellitus 75,578
Influenza and Pneumonia 56,979
Nephritis, Nephrotic Syndrome and Nephrosis 47,112
Drug-Induced Deaths1 46,471
Intentional Self-Harm (Suicide) 41,149
Septicemia 38,156
Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis 36,427
Alcoholic Liver Disease [subset of Chronic Liver Disease] 18,146
Injury by Firearms 33,636
Alcohol-Induced Deaths 29,001
Parkinson’s Disease 25,196
Pneumonitis Due to Solids and Liquids 18,579
Homicide 16,121
Viral Hepatitis 8,157
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Disease 6,955
All Illicit Drugs Combined (2000)2 17,0002
Cannabis (Marijuana) 0
2013 Data Detailing Drug-Induced Deaths,
Breaking Out Specific Data for Prescription Analgesics and Heroin,
as Reported by the CDC4
Drug Overdose Total 43,982
Prescription Analgesics Total 16,235
Heroin Overdose Total [3] 6,235
2010 Drug Overdose Mortality Data In Detail,
Reported By Paulozzi et al.5
Drug Overdose Total 38,329
Pharmaceutical Drugs 22,134
Pharmaceutical Opioid Analgesics 16,651
1 “Drug” includes both legal and illegal drugs.
2 Mokdad, Ali H., PhD, James S. Marks, MD, MPH, Donna F. Stroup, PhD, MSc, Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, “Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000,” Journal of the American Medical Association, (March 10, 2004), G225 Vol. 291, No. 10, 1242.
3 No recorded cases of overdose deaths from cannabis have been found in extensive literature reviews, see for example Gable, Robert S., “The Toxicity of Recreational Drugs,” American Scientist (Research Triangle Park, NC: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, May-June 2006) Vol. 94, No. 3, p. 207.
4 The total deaths by drug poisoning as reported by Warner et al. in their data brief differs slightly from the number reported in the 2013 deaths data microfiles.
5 Paulozzi et al analyzed mortality figures and found that of 38,329 drug overdose deaths then reported in 2010, pharmaceutical drugs accounted for 22,134 deaths, of which 16,651 were opiod analgesic overdoses. The data were apparently revised slightly between the time the research letter was published in JAMA (February 2013) and release of the CDC’s Deaths: Final Data for 2010 publication report, officially dated May 8, 2013.
Source: “2013 Mortality Multiple Cause Micro-data Files,” US Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, GA), December 2014, Table 10, pp. 19-23.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_public_use_data.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf
Chen LH, Hedegaard H, Warner M. Drug-poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics: United States, 1999–2011. NCHS data brief no. 166.
Hyattsville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2014, p. 1.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db166.htm.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/drug_poisoning/drug_poisoning.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/drug_poisoning/drug_poisoning_deaths…
Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, Karin A. Mack, PhD, and Leonard J. Paulozzi, MD, “Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths, United States, 2010,” Journal of the American Medical Association, February 20, 2013, Vol 309, No. 7, p. 658.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1653518
– See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death#sthash.XtQiM0j8.dpuf
– See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death#sthash.FFuSNXCW.dpuf
