Mortality Data for the US for Deaths Due to and Related to Twenty Neurologic Diseases

Abstract

Mortality data for the entire US for 20 categories of neurologic disease for the years 1971 and 1973–1978 were reviewed. Data were analyzed separately for deaths due to each disease (i.e., with the disease listed as the underlying cause of death) and for deaths related to the disease (i.e., with the disease listed as the underlying, immediate, associated, or contributory cause of death). Average annual age-, race-, and sex-specific mortality rates for deaths due to and deaths related to each of 20 neurologic disorders were calculated using as the denominator population estimates by age, race, and sex for the same years, obtained from a linear interpolation of the 1970 and 1980 US census data. Average annual age-adjusted mortality rates by race and sex were also calculated. The percent distribution of the registered underlying cause of death in people dying with each of the 20 categories of neurologic disease was also determined. Examination of these data emphasizes the importance of checking all deaths related to a disease to obtain more complete information about the disease from mortality data.