 |
||
Smoking, high blood pressure, obesity: top three killers of U.S. adultsNew study shows hundreds of thousands of Americans die prematurely from avoidable risk factors April 28, 2009–Smoking, high blood pressure, and being overweight or obese are responsible for the largest number of preventable deaths in the United States, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Harvard University, and the University of Toronto. Of the 2.5 million Americans who died in 2005, smoking was responsible for the deaths of 1 in 5 (467,000), high blood pressure killed 1 in 6 (395,000), and overweight-obesity took 1 in 10 lives (216,000). The study, published in PLoS Medicine, is the most comprehensive to date assessing the link between mortality and modifiable risk factors in the U.S., and the only one to include the effects of dietary, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors. Earlier studies have quantified deaths linked to only a few factors, such as smoking and alcohol. When breaking the risk factors down by gender, the study shows that high blood pressure was the leading cause of death in women (231,000), accounting for 19% of all female deaths, while smoking was the leading cause of death in men (248,000), responsible for 21% of all male deaths. “What’s surprising about these results is that smoking and high blood pressure both have effective interventions, yet we are failing miserably at preventing deaths resulting from these risk factors,” says IHME Director and study co-author, Dr. Christopher Murray. “We’re clearly doing something wrong if hundreds of thousands of lives are lost to causes that are entirely preventable.” Too much salt, not enough fish result in nearly 200 thousand U.S. deaths each year Researchers also found a connection between other preventable dietary and lifestyle risk factors and premature deaths among Americans. Inadequate or no physical activity and high blood sugar were the next leading preventable causes of mortality in the U.S. When looking at factors related to components of diet, the researchers found 102,000 deaths linked to high levels of salt, 84,000 deaths attributed to low intake of fish and seafood (sources of omega-3 fatty acids), and 82,000 deaths from high dietary levels of trans fatty acids (found in many packaged baked goods). “These results have wide implications, particularly given the recent efforts to overhaul the U.S. health care system,” says Dr. Murray. “If we really want to improve the health of Americans, investments should be made in targeting a handful of these risk factors contributing to chronic diseases in this country. Universal health insurance is estimated to save 18,000; it is a critical component of health reform but we must also tackle these key risk factors directly.” Most deaths attributable to the risk factors were from cardiovascular diseases. For instance, the data showed high blood pressure was responsible for 45% of all cardiovascular deaths, with overweight-obesity, physical inactivity, high LDL cholesterol, smoking, high dietary salt, high dietary trans fatty acids and low dietary omega 3 fatty acids also contributing significantly to cardiovascular disease. Smoking had the largest effect on cancer mortality, causing an estimated 33% of all cancer deaths. Cancers, respiratory diseases, diabetes and injuries accounted for nearly 1 in 4 deaths of all deaths caused by smoking, alcohol use, high blood glucose, physical inactivity, low intake of fruits and vegetables, and overweight–obesity. The modifiable risk factors included in the study and the numbers of deaths attributable to each individual factor:
Read the article: Danaei G, Ding EL, Mozaffarian D, Taylor B, Rehm J, Murray CJL, Ezzati M. The Preventable Causes of Death in the United States: Comparative Risk Assessment of Dietary, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Risk Factors. PLoS Medicine, April 28, 2009, Volume 6, Issue 4. (pdf*) *Software capable of displaying a PDF is required for viewing or printing this document. You may download a free copy of Adobe Reader from the Adobe website at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. |
