Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Data On Death Patterns In Each State Allow Officials To Dig Down To Underlying Causes
Some states are hit harder than others when it comes to distinctive causes of death. By studying these trends, lawmakers and public health leaders are trying to focus preventive outreach on reducing the specific health problems plaguing their states.
Drinking is more likely to be the cause of death in much of the Southwest than in other parts of the country. In parts of Appalachia and New England, it’s a drug overdose. Suicide by gun stands out as disproportionately lethal in parts of the Upper Midwest and Alaska. Although the top causes of death are similar for most states, many states have their own peculiar hard cases —types of deaths whose rates are higher than the national norm, a Stateline analysis of 2014 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. (Henderson, 5/16)
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