Deaths due to heart problems tend to be highest in counties along the southern half of the Mississippi River.
Violent deaths tend to be common in Western counties, and deaths from mental and substance abuse disorders tend to be more common in Kentucky and West Virginia counties than others.
Those are just a few of the trends that emerged in a new study that revealed the major causes of death for counties across the United States. The study was published in the journal JAMA…
For the study, researchers analyzed death records from the National Center for Health Statistics’ National Vital Statistics System. The records included data on 80,412,524 deaths that occurred from 1980 through 2014 in the United States.
After taking a close look at which causes of deaths occurred in which counties, the researchers found trends in how many deaths were due to tumors; cardiovascular disease; diabetes and diseases that affect the urinary tract, genitals, blood, thyroid or pancreas; neurological disorders; suicide and violence; chronic respiratory diseases; transportation-related injuries; mental and substance disorders; chronic liver diseases; and infectious diseases.
