"America's REAL #1 Killer!"
(...and regardless what you've heard,
it's simply NOT heart disease...)

ELL, in a sense it is true, but not how you and most others might think. You see, statistics are often cited without context which, if carefully examined, prove something else entirely.

    And this is just such a statistic, that is often misleading and beguiles the uncritical minds of the public.  It's not that everyone is gullible, except perhaps in whom they choose to listen as authoritative.

    Rather, it's a matter of carelessly following leaders blinded by their own propaganda, political agendas or blind faith perhaps.

    The truth is there for all to see, on the Internet, in the statistical facts compiled by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), for anyone who cares to look.

    And the shocking pure truth is that only one disease is the number one killer in all age groups up to the age of 75, and it far outweighs heart disease in the total numbers of those who fall victim to it, compared with those who succumb to heart disease.

    In fact, this true #1 Killer disease kills so many, prior to the age of 75 that those who survive to that ripe old age die primarily of "heart disease" thereafter (or at least their deaths are mainly attributed to heart disease because, regardless of the cause, we all die when our hearts stop beating, after all)!

    The numbers of those whose deaths after the age of 75 are so many that they tend to skew the statistics toward "heart disease" as the supposed #1 Killer disease.

    This does not consider, however, the total numbers who have already died from America's true #1 Killer disease, in all age groups and in every year these statistics have been reported, up to the age of 75.

    You see, because these people didn't survive to see 75 or beyond, they simply are not considered as "important" statistics in determining which disease truly is the #1 Killer of Americans.

    In 2004, for instance, the most recent year for which total death statistics by leading causes was available at the time of this writing, deaths attributed to heart disease are listed as totaling 652,486 out of 2,397,615 deaths for all causes, or 27.2% of total deaths.

    A close "second," apparently, is malignant neoplasms (cancers) at 553,888 or 23.1% of total deaths.

    This sure seems convincing, until these statistics are examined more closely and carefully. The CDC breaks down their statistics by sex, race or national origin, age, and even geographically by various types of each major disease.

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Center for Health Statistics and its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- through the National Vital Statistics System -- prepares the NVSS (National Vital Statistics Reports) each year.

    These reports are usually published three years after the fact, due to the difficulty and inevitable delays required to gather, collect, compile and report all relevant statistics.

Startling Statistics...

    First, let's look at Volume 56, Number 5 of the NVSS for November 20, 2007, listing the Leading Causes of Deaths for 2004.

    According to a graph on page 8, heart disease has been steadily shrinking over the years, from a high of around 38% in 1980, while cancer has been steadily growing every 5-year period presented by the chart.

    For instance, in 2003 the death rate for cancer was 556,902 or 22.7% of all deaths, while the next year -- with slightly more than 3,000 less deaths attributed to this cause (556,902) -- the percentage of total deaths by cancer had grown by .4% (from 22.7% up to 23.1%).

    Between the sexes, 8.540 more women than men fell victim to heart disease, while cancer claimed 19.772 more men than women in 2004.

    What is most striking is the comparisons between various age groups.

    Among 5 to 14 year olds, of all races and both sexes, since 1980 heart disease has shrunk from less than 5% to practically nothing, while cancer was consistently rated at better than 12% during most 5-year periods represented by the chart for this age group, on page 10 of the NVSR, Vol. 56, No. 5 for November 20, 2007, from 1980 through 2004.

    The chart for all races and both sexes of those 25-44 years of age for the same period (page 11), while showing a sudden reemergence of heart disease as the #3 leading cause of death, at about the same 12% level for every period since 1980, cancer was obviously #2 as the leading cause of death (just behind accidental injuries), claiming from 14% up to 18%, with slightly less by 2004, but more than heart disease in every period covered by the chart.

Skewed Statistics

    By age 65 and over, according to the chart at the bottom of page 11, heart disease appeared to have burgeoned into the #1 leading cause of death, claiming more than 42% in 1980, but shrinking gradually to 27.2% by 2004, among all races and both sexes.

    Cancer appears to have risen from around 10% in 1980 to more than 12% of the total of this same age group by 2004. But remember, this last group is strongly skewed by the statistics by those over 75, so the following is a more specific age-related breakdown for the year 2004 (these figures closely match those of preceding years):

    For all races and both sexes, in the 1-4 year old age group, cancer claimed 399 victims (8.3% of all deaths), while heart disease claimed just 187 (3.9% of the total).

    (It's highly doubtful that children ages 1-4 are dying from cancers related to overexposure to sunlight. You just don't see infants out sunning themselves, trying to get dark tans!)

    From ages 5-9 the totals were: 526 cancer deaths (18.2%) to 83 deaths from heart disease (2.9%), while from ages 10-14 years the rates were: 493 cancer deaths (12.5%) and 162 (4.1%) attributed to heart disease.

    731 15 to 19 year olds (5.3%) fell victim to cancer, while 366 (2.7%) died from heart disease. In the 20-24 year old age group cancer claimed 978 (5%) compared with 672 (3.4%) due to heart disease.

    From 25 to 34 years of age, 3,633 (8.9%) died from cancer-related causes, while 3,163 (7.7%) passed away from heart disease related causes. In the 35-44 years old group, cancer was still the #2 leading cause of death behind accidents, claiming 14,723 lives (17.2%), compared to heart disease in the #3 slot with 12,925 deaths (15.1% of the total).

    There were 49,520 deaths (27.9%) due to cancer -- now in the #1 leading cause of death slot -- among 45-54 year olds, with heart disease as the #2 cause of death with 37,556 deaths (just 21.1%).

    From age 55 to 64 years, cancer claimed 96,956 (36.6%) -- still as the #1 cause of death -- with heart disease trailing far behind with 63,613 deaths (24%).

    Even in the 65 to 74 year age group cancer remains the #1 leading cause of death, claiming 139,417 (34.9%) of the total, compared with heart disease, still in the #2 slot, with just 99,999 deaths (25%).

    Only in the 75-84 years age group (and one suspects even these statistics are skewed by those aged 78 and over), does heart disease jump to the lead #1 position, taking 195,379 (28.6% of everyone in this age range), compared to cancer claiming 166,085 (24.2%).

    And the real jump happens in the 85+ age group, with 237,924 deaths (35.4% of this age range) related to heart disease, compared with just 80,345 (12%) deaths attributed to cancer.

    Yes, believe it or not, up to age 85 cancer claims more victims than heart disease, hands down (473,461 died of cancer -- 27.9% of the total for this age group -- compared with just 414,105 -- 24.4% of the total in this age range -- attributed to heart disease).

    Only by allowing the large number of deaths attributed to heart disease from all those aged 85 and older can these numbers be skewed to claim heart disease as the #1 leading cause of death, over cancer, even though this is apparently true also for those between ages 75 and 84 (most likely from age 78 and up)!

    So while there are indeed more deaths attributed to heart disease in all age groups, among all races, and for both sexes, compared with cancer, it is actually cancer that should be rated as the #1 leading cause of death among all age groups except the very elderly.

    And even then, one suspects that deaths attributed to "heart disease" in the septua- and octogenarian and up age range are really most likely more the result of advanced age, dehydration, poor diet and resulting malnutrition, and other age-related causes which can lead to heart problems, and eventually result in death.

    Such deaths, despite being conveniently rated as being "caused" by heart disease, are very likely due more to other age-related health issues, and the laziness of medical staff in determining the true cause of death in such cases.

    It's so much easier to just put down "heart disease" and be done with it.

    Taking this skewing into account from age 75 and up, in fact, would put cancer into the unmistakable #1 spot for all ages, races and sexes!

    Cancer clearly is, and has been for quite a while, America's true #1 Killer disease, not heart disease. And this fact should inform and underlie all our efforts to combat the greatest scourge and plague of this and the last century, so far.