May 11, 2019 - Health

Chart: The mortality rate ranking for each state, by disease

Axios
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Data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017 data; Interactive: Lazaro Gamio/Axios

Between the lines: The death rates from pretty much every major cause — heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, suicide, sepsis, guns, infant mortality — remain highest in the South, according to updated data from the CDC.

  • Rural Appalachia has higher death rates from drug overdoses. But a lot of the poorest health outcomes in the South reflect longstanding poverty, fewer health care resources and longstanding barriers to care.

Original story: Everything's deadlier in the South (4/25/19)

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Rashaan Ayesh

Cancer death rates drop by largest amount on record in U.S.

Photo: Harry Sieplinga/Getty Images

American Cancer Society researchers revealed in a new report published Wednesday that the U.S. cancer death rate dropped 2.2% between 2016 and 2017, the largest decline recorded in national cancer statistics dating back to 1930, AP reports.

The big picture via Axios' Bob Herman: Lung cancer drove most of the decline, as fewer people smoke cigarettes, and advanced lung cancer treatments become standard. Lung cancer accounts for nearly a quarter of all cancer deaths, according to the lead author of the report, Rebecca Siegel.

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Caitlin Owens

Raising the minimum wage can prevent suicide

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Raising the minimum wage by just $1 in each state could have prevented more than 27,000 suicides between 1990 and 2015, according to a new report in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health reported on by NPR.

Between the lines: Increasing the minimum wage would be especially helpful when unemployment is high, the authors found.

Go deeperArrowJan 9, 2020
Rashaan Ayesh

Some schools give mental health days as young Americans' suicide rate rises

Photo: Adam Augustus Crowley/Getty Images

States and school districts around the country are passing legislation to allow students to take mental health days as young people struggle with depression and anxiety, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: The changes come as the suicide rate among young people continues to rise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported suicide was the second leading cause of death among people ages 10-24 in 2017.

Go deeperArrowFeb 1, 2020 - Politics & Policy