A new report from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted that up to 40 percent, or 360,000 of premature deaths per year, could be prevented if changes in personal behaviors are made.
Nearly 900,000 Americans suffer from premature deaths due to the five leading causes: heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, and unintentional injuries. The number varies state-to-state and accounts for 63 percent of the overall mortality rate in the United States.
Researchers from the CDC studied the cause of death among those below aged 80 between 2008 and 2010. They then calculated the possible number of lives that could have been saved if all states were able to manage the leading causes of deaths, according to the initiative of those states with low mortality rates.
"As a doctor, it is heartbreaking to lose just one patient to a preventable disease or injury - and it is that much more poignant as the director of the nation's public health agency to know that far more than a hundred thousand deaths each year are preventable," said CDC director Tom Frieden in a press release. "With programs such as the CDC's Million Hearts initiative, we are working hard to prevent many of these premature deaths."
Their analysis revealed that 92,000, or 34 percent of the premature deaths related to heart diseases, could have been prevented; 84,500 or 21 percent from cancer; 29,000, 33 percent from respiratory diseases; 17,000, or 33 percent from stroke; and 37,000 - 39 percent - from unintentional injuries.
The researchers suggested that states should invest in health initiatives that can encourage people to change their personal behaviors. One example is that heart disease death risk will be lowered if an individual quit tobacco use, eat healthy foods, manage his or her weight and exercise.
Further details of this study will be published in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
