Therapeutic milestone: stroke declines from the second to the third leading organ- and disease-specific cause of death in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
Stroke mortality rates declined for much of the second half of the 20th century, but recent trends and their relation to other organ- and disease-specific causes of death have not been characterized.


METHODS
Using the National Center for Health Statistics mortality data, leading organ- and disease-specific causes of death were assessed for the most recent 10-year period (1996 to 2005) in the United States with a specific focus on stroke deaths.


RESULTS
Age-adjusted stroke death rates declined by 25.4%; as a result, lung cancer (which only declined by 9.2%) surpassed stroke as the second leading cause of death in 2003. Despite a 31.9% decline in age-adjusted ischemic heart disease death rates, it remains the leading cause of death. Stroke is now the fifth leading cause of death in men and the fourth leading cause of death in whites but remains the second leading cause of death in women and blacks.


CONCLUSIONS
With stroke death rates decreasing substantially in the United States from 1996 to 2005, stroke moved from the second to the third leading organ- and disease-specific cause of death. Women and blacks may warrant attention for targeted stroke prevention and treatment because they continue to have disproportionately high stroke death rates.
Towfighi
Amytis
A
Department of Neurology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif 90033, USA. towfighi@usc.edu
Ovbiagele
Bruce
B
Saver
Jeffrey L
JL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D009928:Organ Specificity; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult