Module Components

• Overview
• Assignments

Topics

• Rankings
• Cancer -- Magnitude of the Problem and Prevention
• Population-based Initiatives to Reduce the Burden of Cancer
• Mental Health and Mental Disorders—Magnitude of the Problem and Prevention
• Population-based Initiatives to Reduce the Burden of Mental Health and Mental Disorders

NRSG 780 - Health Promotion and Population Health

Module 10: Leading Causes of Morbidity and Mortality

Rankings

Mortality

Recall that many of the leading causes of death in the U.S. are heavily influenced by lifestyle risk factors.

Age-adjusted Death Rates for the 10 Leading Causes of Death in the US, 2020 and 2021

 

Source: NCHS Data Brief No. 456, December 2022

The CDC reported that compared to 2010, 87,950 deaths from diseases of the heart (decrease of 4%),  63,209 from cancer (decrease of 25%),  29,132 from chronic respiratory diseases (increase of 1%),  15,175 from cerebrovascular diseases (decrease of 11%), and 45,331 from unintentional injuries (increase of 23%) could potentially be prevented each year.

Source: CDC MMWR November 18, 2016 (most recent data available)

Morbidity

On the international level the World Health Organization identifies the leading causes of disability, measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), noting that back pain and musculoskeletal disorders and major depressive and anxiety disorders have the greatest influence on morbidity. For more information on musculosketal disorders review https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/musculoskeletal-conditions.  For more information on depression review https://www.who.int/health-topics/depression#tab=tab_1