Although the number of deaths due to heart disease began a relatively steady decline in the 1990s, it remains the leading cause of death overall in the United States, followed by cancer. However, the gap between them has narrowed greatly since 1950, and in 2014, cancer deaths outnumbered deaths due to heart disease in 22 states.

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In the United States, heart disease has been the leading cause of death overall for decades, with cancer second. The total number of deaths from each has increased since 1950, largely due to the nation's aging population, but the gap between the two has narrowed greatly.

Although heart disease still ranks first overall, cancer became the leading cause of death in 22 states in 2014. In 2000, it killed more people in just two states—Alaska and Minnesota. The 20 states added to that once-short list are Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Complete data are available through the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db254.htm. [Source: National Center for Health Statistics]

For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/content/early/by/section.

©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.
2016
American Association for Cancer Research.