The need to understand how people live and die has led to the identification and classification of the leading causes of death globally. These causes have led to variances in mortality rates, which is necessary in perceiving the general health of the world. Causes of death vary depending on a country’s development level; thus, the United States experiences different causes from third world countries. Current causes of death are also different from the roots of death recorded over a century ago based on various reasons as discussed below.
In the world today, non-communicable diseases have become the leading causes of death. The top five causes of death in the USA include heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer disease, trachea bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (WHO, 2018); which are all non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, in third world countries, the causes of death include both communicable and non-communicable diseases, with NCDs taking more prevalence (WHO, 2018). These cases differ from the reasons recorded about a century ago, as, at that time, communicable diseases were more prevalent.
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The difference between the current and past causes of death is attributed to the prevalence of communicable diseases in the past. Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, digestive disorders, and heart diseases were the most common causes of death (News Team, 2015). More so, these diseases were unpreventable hence increasing their impact on people’s health.
The different causes of death between the present and past times is because of technological advancement, especially in more developed countries (like the United States). In this age, technology has evolved (News Team, 2015) such that vaccines have been developed to prevent diseases, while machines for early detection of illness have been designed. Additionally, people now understand the need for lifestyle changes to build good health (News Team, 2015), which lowers the risk of non-communicable diseases, hence a reduced death risk.
In conclusion, causes of death are different in the United States compared to third world countries. Moreover, they vary from the past to the present age. The risk brought about by communicable diseases has been mitigated hence the shift in morbidity and mortality. These changes are attributed to technological advancements and lifestyle changes.
References
News Team. (2015). Causes of U.S. Deaths Have Changed Greatly. Retrieved from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/causes-u-s-deaths-changed-greatly-infographic/
WHO. (2018). The top 10 causes of death. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death
