Death Basics
What are the most common causes of death?
2.4 million people, on average, die each year in America. The top 10 ways of dying in America today. Number 10, death from infections. Number nine, death from nephritis, which is kidneys. Eight, death from Alzheimer's, which they used to call old age. But no one has really died of old age since 1951. death from pneumonia, number seven. Six, death from diabetes. Five, accidental death. Number four, death from lung diseases. Three, death from brain malfunctions. Number two, death from cancer. And the number one cause of death in America today? Still death from heart disease.
What do women fear most when it comes to death?
Over two hundred and seventy thousand women die of cancer, all forms of cancer; what women fear most is breast cancer, but actually women should fear heart disease: more women die of heart disease than all the forms of cancers combined.
What is the likelihood of women dying from violence?
As far as murder, 4,000 women are murdered each year. Four out of six of these women are murdered by people that they know.
What are my chances of living to the age 75?
Well currently 2.4 million Americans die every year. This is based on statistics of the leading cause of death being heart disease. The second is cancer, brain malfunction, lung diseases, accidental death, diabeteas, pneumonia, alzheimer's, nephritis and infections. But 53 percent of all these deaths occure to people that are over 75 years of age. A hundred years ago the average life span was 48. Two hundred years ago the average life span was 38 and in prehistoric times if you were 18 you were an old man. So now we live longer through various forms of knowledge, medicine and dieting. But chances are 53 percent of people will live at least as long as the current lifespan which is above 76 for both men and women in America today.
What are some common reasons for suicide?
Suicide today, there's over 30,000 people unfortunately that commit suicide and over 100,000 attempts. Psychologists and doctors have been trying to figure out why the rise in suicide are occurring. It seems that certain months are more suicide prone. Usually after holidays or after birthdays. Employment seems to come up in suicides, where more people have more stress nowadays. They're doing two and three jobs, they're working 60 hours and it correlates to employment and unemployment, the number of suicides that occur. Forget about when you put in the mix alcohol or drug use, because then, the statistics go way against your favor. Over 20 times more people who use drugs and alcohol commit suicide than non abusers.
Can I die from a migraine?
Migraines. These are recurring headaches that affect over 28 million Americans every year. Migraines usually cause pain on one or more side of the head and are often accompanied by nausea and vomiting. As these attacks can last from several hours to several days, a migraine sufferer can become practically disabled and unable to perform even basic routines. Here's the difference between a headache and a migraine. The American Medical Association distinguishes this between a tension or nervous or typical headache that you would have to a migraine is actually a neurological disorder. In other words, a migraine is a disease, the headache only a symptom. Migraines are different than regular headaches. Headaches are caused when the muscles constrict. Migraines are just the opposite - too much blood is flowing in through the brain. So what happens is that over 28 million people suffer from these, some so debilitating they can't even go to work. They believe that over two billion dollars a year are lost in work just from migraines. But here's the scary thing, is that over nine thousand people a year die from migraines. All stroke victims under 45 are usually related to some form of migraine headache. Migraines can come from different environmental factors, foods, perfumes, these type of things, but when you look at over nine thousand people dying from migraines, that's more death than from hand guns in America.
What are the chances an infant will survive its first year?
100 years ago so many children died in their first year that parents chose many times not to even name their infant until after a year. One out of four children back then never made it to kindergarten, while today nearly 99% of children survive the first year, to live at least that long.
Do hospital or home births have a lower mortality rate?
The question now is: "What is safer? Home births or hospital births?"A hundred years ago, it was all home births. Today, it's divided. Advocates for hospitals say it's the only place to go to give birth, while there are some home birth advocates that say it is equally safe. Vermont has been the only state that's kept statistics on this, and they have the highest rate of home births of any other state in the union. And, their rates of infant mortality are actually slightly higher than hospitals throughout the rest of the country.
What commonly causes death for children aged one to four?
There's a whole variety of diseases that are the number one killers of that age group, but there are a whole category of accidents that occur under the care of parents that can help be prevented if more attention is paid to it. The number one is cars: Improper strapping down in cars, using the improper equipment in car traffic. That is still the number killer of that age group when it comes to accidents, but there are some things in the home, too. There are drowning statistics: Over 12, people drown every year, but over half of that is children under the age of four, and they can usually be prevented. Children as young as one drown in the home from pails of water left unattended, bathtubs not drained. These things could be paid attention to to prevent that whole age group from ending in that way. Pool gates, safety gates, alarms on doors -- these things can bring those statistics down dramatically. Even common things in the home -- entrapment -- is another form of death of this age group. Folding play pens, the v-type folding play pens, accordion safety gates, improper slats on cribs, improper foaming on cribs -- these are the things that contribute to deaths in this age group that all can be prevented.
What is the likelihood of falling to my death?
Over age 65 falling is one of the most common causes of accidental death in America. Over 45, more people die from complications of falls at that age than at any other time in their life. People fall on common things: throw rugs, stairs. These are all things that contribute to fall deaths over 65 years of age. An interesting statistic is that of all the races that are studied, white men die of falling more than either woman or any other race. Falls are categorized by anything from 30 feet in the air to two feet. And more people die from falling from a step ladder changing a light bulb in an office than they do from a 30 foot extension ladder.
How has terminology on death certificates changed over time?
Causes of death found on death certificates 20 years ago, some of them are same amazing. I actually found causes of death that said one poor individual had died of lack of ambition. Another person died from visitation from god. So, these type of causes of death have changed as medical knowledge increased. There were some common causes of death back then, I had found causes called commotion, which today we would have no idea about. Commotion was any form of jostling of the head. Most of the terminology found on old death certificates were descriptive of the person who was the caregiver at that time. That is why fever was the number one cause in the seventeen hundreds. Today we may know them as three to four hundred different types of illnesses. Old age was big, dibility, teeth was the number six killer in the seventeen hundreds. So now a days very few deaths occure from teeth for example. But most of the causes of death were from discriptive of what the care giver experienced of the person that was meeting their end.
