US Death Rate falls; Alzheimer’s moves up the list of causes of death

Via the NAELA E-Bulletin:

In what appears to be an amazing success for American medicine,preliminary government figures showed that the annual number of deathsin the U.S. dropped by nearly 50,000 in 2004 — the biggest decline innearly 70 years. The 2 percent decrease, reported by the NationalCenter for Health Statistics, came as a shock to many, because the U.S.is aging, growing in population and getting fatter. In fact, someexperts said they suspect the numbers may not hold up when a finalreport is released later this year. Nevertheless, center officials saidthe statistics, based on a review of about 90 percent of death recordsreported in all 50 states in 2004, were consistent across the countryand were deemed solid enough to report.
 
Source: Associated Press (19 Apr 2006)
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060420/ap_on_he_me/staying_alive
 
Related story:
Alzheimer’s disease moves from eighth to seventh place on leading causeof U. S. deaths (20 Apr 2006), at http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2006/04/20/eline/links/20060420elin006.html

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