Eye-opening maps reveal how and where Americans die
IHME
National mortality rates are helpful if you want to learn about the US as a whole, but they don't say much about the slew of ways people in particular locations died — the heart disease cases in Michigan, the HIV/AIDS in Florida, and the lung cancer in Kentucky.
To see those patterns, you need more granular data points.
The Institutes for Health Metrics and Evaluation has that information. Relying on 2014 government data, IHME offers an online tool that can sort mortality by cause of death, age, sex, location, or any combination of the four, all based on the number of deaths per 100,000 people. It reveals startling maps of where public-health funds may be needed most.
Here's a sampling of the trends IHME data illuminates.
Heart disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women in the US. Roughly one in four Americans deaths, or about 610,000 fatalities in 2013, can be attributed to heart disease.
IHME divides heart disease into two types: rheumatic heart disease and ischemic heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease).
The lowest rate: 76.98/100,000 in Pitkin County, Colorado
The highest rate: 545.23/100,000 in Franklin Parish, Louisiana
Cancers
A cancer diagnosis used to be a death sentence, but increasingly there are a range of cancers that respond well to treatment. Since 1991, the death rate has fallen by 25%.
Rates still vary by cancer type and the stage of discovery, however.
The lowest rate: 70.71/100,000 in Summit County, Colorado
The highest rate: 503.5/100,000 in Union County, Florida
HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis
The US has made considerable leaps in the fight against HIV/AIDS fatalities. With the right treatment, people who are HIV-positive can expect to live as long as someone without the virus.
The lowest rate: 0.22/100,000 in Saint Croix County, Wisconsin
The highest rate: 65.67/100,000 in Union County, Florida
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