Public health extras: Leading causes of death, access to firearms

Heart disease still top cause of death

Heart disease remained the leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2013, while stroke dropped to fifth and unintentional injury moved to fourth, according to “Mortality in the United States, 2013,” a December report from the National Center for Health Statistics.

The remaining seven of the nation’s top 10 leading causes of death remained the same, with cancer the second leading cause, chronic lower respiratory disease in third place and Alzheimer’s disease in sixth, followed by diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease and suicide. The 10 leading causes of death accounted for more than 73 percent of all U.S. deaths in 2013.

Also, from 2012 to 2013, the age-adjusted death rates decreased among four of the 10 leading causes: heart disease, cancer, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. Death rates increased for chronic lower respiratory diseases and for influenza and pneumonia, while rates associated with diabetes and suicide remained the same.

Overall, the report found that national mortality rates did not change significantly between 2012 and 2013, and life expectancy remained relatively the same at 78.8 years.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/nchs.

Suicidal youth have access to firearms

Youth struggling with mental health issues often have access to a firearm in their homes, a recent study found.

Given that public health officials recommend limiting firearm access among teens who exhibit suicide risk factors, study researchers hypothesized that such teens would be less likely to report firearm access at home. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Based on data from more than 10,000 teens participating in the National Comorbidity Survey–Adolescent Supplement, the study found that of the nearly 30 percent who reported living in a home with a firearm, more than 40 percent reported easy access to and the ability to shoot the firearm. Teens with a history of mental illness as well as those with a history of suicidality were just as likely to report in-home firearm access.

“Given that firearms are the second-most common means of suicide among adolescents, further attention to developing and implementing evidence-based strategies to decrease firearm access in this age group is warranted,” stated the study, which was published in December in JAMA Psychiatry.