It is a dangerous world. There are risks everywhere, but what really kills Americans? The latest statistics from the national Safety Council and the National Center for Health Statistics provide insights to the leading causes of death.
The Big Risks
The two biggest threats to everyday Americans is heart disease and cancer. One in seven Americans fall to each of these causes. Everything else is a far distant risk. Here are the compiled Top 10 causes of deaths from 2004:
- Heart disease: 614,348
- Cancer: 591,699
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,101
- Accidents (unintentional injuries): 136,053
- Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 133,103
- Alzheimer's disease: 93,541
- Diabetes: 76,488
- Influenza and pneumonia: 55,227
- Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,146
- Intentional self-harm (suicide): 42,773
Taking Odds
What are your odds of dying from….
The National Safety council put together a list. It is a little morbid, but absolutely fascinating.
Terrorism? Not so Much.
Terrorists would like everyone to believe they are a great cause of deaths against Americans, but the data does not support any such supposition. The overall risk from terrorist acts is quite small. We have many more causes to worry about.
Sharks, Planes, and Lightning, oh my!
It is natural to hold many fears of a gruesome demise. Shark attacks, plane crashes, and lightning strikes have a special place in our personal fear box. It is irrational of course, the odds of being attacked by a shark is 1 in 8 million, but that does not give us much relief when we are at the beach considering to go for a swim. It is the dark unknown coming up from the depths, with lifeless eyes, to take a bite and pull us under the waves were nobody can hear you scream. Those fears are still there. Never mind you are thousands of times more likely to die choking on food. Some things are just ingrained in our psyche, seated in the oldest parts of our brain, necessary for survival.
The chance of being hit by lightning is only 1 in 174443. But still, only idiots play golf during a lightning storm.
Living Forever
Although we can’t live forever, we may be able to avoid an early check-out. Where we should focus in the long run and every day in our personal choices, is around heart disease and cancer. Some aspects are out of our control, such as genetic predisposition, but there are many factors which we can regulate. Diet, exercise, smoking, etc. are all decisions we largely have control over. Choosing to use products containing known carcinogens will probably edge you towards the statistics for cancer. Being overweight with poor diet and little exercise places undue stress on the cardiovascular system, that may lead to heart disease.
We all have choices. It is best to have all the information so you can choose wisely.
Image Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_05.pdf http://www.businessinsider.com/death-risk-statistics-terrorism-disease-accidents-2017-1 http://www.nsc.org/learn/safety-knowledge/Pages/injury-facts-chart.aspx