From Deseret News archives:
Death rate down — life expectancy at high
Utah's figures lower; life expectancy at birth rises to a high
The death rate, adjusted to take into account the changing age distribution of the population, fell to 801 per 100,000 in 2004, 3.8 percent lower than the 2003 rate of 832.7, the National Center for Health Statistics, based in Hyattsville, Md., said today in a preliminary report.
Utah's death rate is lower still, with 537 deaths per 100,000. But Utah health officials were not able to say offhand if it's a record low. Instead, Cynthia Robison in the Office of Vital Records and Statistics, which tracks births and deaths in Utah, said the death rate has dropped in three of the past four years, with a 3.7 percent decrease from 2003 to 2004. A look at long-term statistics indicates Utah's death rate has been relatively stable since 1979. The year 2004 is the most recent year for which complete data is available.
Nationally, life expectancy at birth rose to a record 77.9 years, from 77.5 the year before, the agency said. The report doesn't cite any reasons for the declining mortality and higher life expectancy. Arialdi Minino, the lead author of the report, couldn't immediately be reached.
The picture is slightly different in Utah, according to data provided by the Utah Department of Health. It doesn't have an overall life expectancy, but rather tracks it by gender. Its stats show that in 2004, Utah males had a life expectancy of 75.9 years, down from 76.4 in 2003. Utah females in 2004 had a life expectancy of 79.1 years, down from 79.9 the year before.
Nationally, people of both sexes, and from all racial and ethnic groups tracked by researchers, had lower death rates, according to the report. Heart disease remained the leading cause of death, followed by cancer, stroke, chronic lower-respiratory disease, accidents and diabetes, the researchers said.
The 15 leading causes of death were the same in 2004 as in 2003, except that Alzheimer's disease became No. 7, passing the category comprising influenza and pneumonia.
During those same two years, Utah's leading causes of death were also heart disease, cancer and stroke. Accidental injuries were No. 4, followed by, chronic lower respiratory disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia (counted together), suicide, Alzheimer's disease and kidney disease. While Utah's suicide rate is higher than the national average — 14.3 versus a national 10.8 per 100,000 — in all other top causes of death, Utah's death rate was significantly lower. For example, the 241.7 U.S. heart disease rate was almost double Utah's 125.5 per 100,000. Diabetes-related death, No. 6 on both lists, was 25.4 nationally compared to Utah's 21.8.
The national report was based on about 90 percent of death records for 2004. The data cover the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, while excluding Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. The Utah numbers were provided by Utah's Office of Vital Records and Statistics and included 100 percent of death records for 2004.
E-mail: lois@desnews.com
