Big killer

In public health, a big killer is a diseaseor other major cause of loss of human life.

For big killers of the past, see pandemics.

United States deaths

Ten Leading Causes of Death in the United States in the year 2001:

1. Heart disease: 700,142
2. Cancer: 553,768
3. Stroke: 163,538
4. Chronic lower respiratory disease: 123,013
5. Accidents: 101,537 (includes 38,754 traffic fatalities and estimated 44,000 or more medical errors)
6. Diabetes: 71,372
7. Pneumoniaand Influenza: 62,034
8. Alzheimer's disease: 53,852
9. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 39,480
10. Septicemia: 32,238

Source:

• Leading Causes of Death- National Vital Statistics Report - United States National Center for Health Statistics
• NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2001 Rural/Urban Comparison

World Health Organization deaths

2002

By disease, conditions

1. Ischaemic heart disease 7,208,000 13%
2. Cerebrovascular disease5,509,000 10%
3. Lower respiratory infections3,884,000 7%
4. HIV/AIDS2,777,000 5%
5. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease2,748,000 5%
6. Perinatalconditions (low birthweight, birth asphyxia, birth trauma) 2,462,000 4%
7. Diarrhoeal diseases1,798,000 3%
8. Tuberculosis1,566,000 3%
9. Malaria1,272,000 2%
10. Trachea/broncus/lung cancers1,243,000 2%
11. Road traffic accidents1,192,000 2%
12. Childhood diseases (petussis, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus) 1,124,000 2%
13. Diabetes mellitus988,000 2%
14. Other unintentional injuries(besides road traffic accidents, poisoning, falls, fires, drowning) 923,000 2%
15. Hypertensive heart disease911,000 2%
16. Self-inflicted injuries(suicide) 873,000 2%
17. Stomach cancer850,000 2%
18. Cirrhosis of the liver786,000 1%
19. Nephritis/nephrosis677,000 1%
20. Colon/rectum cancer622,000 1%
21. Liver cancer618,000 1%
22. Violence559,000 1%
23. Breast cancer477,000 1%
24. Oesophagus cancer446,000 1%
25. Inflammatory heart disease404,000 1%
26. Alzheimerand other dementias397,000 1%
27. Falls392,000 1%

By category

1. Cardiovascular diseases: 16 733 000 27%
2. Infectious and parasitic diseases: 10 904 000 19%
3. Malignant neoplasms: 7,121,000 13%
4. Respiratory infections: 3,963,000 7%
5. Respiratory diseases: 3,702,000 7%
6. Unintentional injuries: 3,551,000 6%
7. Perinatal conditions: 2,462,000 4%
8. Digestive diseases: 1,968,000 4%
9. Intentional injuries: 1,618,000 3%
10. Neuropsychiatric disorders: 1,112,000 2%
11. Diabetes mellitus: 988,000 2%
12. Diseases of the genitourinary system: 848,000 2%
13. Maternal conditions: 510,000 1%
14. Congenital abnormalities: 493,000 1%
15. Nutritional deficiencies: 485,000 1%
16. Nutritional/endocrine disorders: 485,000 1%

Source: The World Health Report- 2004 Annex Table 2 Deaths - World Health Organization

See also

• Infectious disease

External links

• Odds of death by various injuries or accidentsfrom National Safety Council

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big+killer Wikipedia article Big killer.