Total Mortality

Diseases of the heart (heart disease), malignant neoplasms (cancer), and cerebrovascular diseases (stroke), in that order, continued to be the three leading causes of death of New Jerseyans (Figure M2 and Table M2). Together, these three underlying causes accounted for 62.9 percent of resident deaths in 1997. Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), a grouped cause which encompasses chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma and unspecified chronic airways obstruction, ranked fourth as a cause of death. Pneumonia/influenza was the fifth leading cause of death, followed closely by diabetes in sixth place and unintentional injuries in seventh. Septicemia, which was ninth in 1996, became the eighth leading cause of death in 1997 and nephritis and nephrosis changed from tenth to ninth. HIV infection dropped in ranking for the third year, this time going from eighth in 1996 to tenth in 1997. Chart M1 presents the average daily toll of deaths by cause in 1997. Tables M17 and M17A through M17J provide the distribution of deaths by cause group and age for the total resident population and by race/sex category, while Table M18 provides a more detailed distribution of cause of death by age group. Table M27 has the basic distribution of 39 causes of death of residents of each county in New Jersey.

Though not in the same order, the seven leading causes of death in the United States were the same as in New Jersey. However, in the nation as a whole, suicide was the eighth leading cause, nephritis/nephrosis was ninth, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis was the tenth leading cause of death in 1997 (Hoyert, D.L., et. al., 1999).

For four of the ten leading causes of death in New Jersey in 1997, the numbers of deaths were higher than they had been in 1996. While the ten leading causes were the same in 1996 and 1997, the ranks of three causes exchanged positions. Septicemia and nephritis/nephrosis went from the ninth and tenth leading causes of death, respectively, in New Jersey and HIV infection became the tenth leading cause in 1997, having been the eighth in 1996 (Table M2).

The greatest decrease in the number of deaths in 1997 compared to 1996, was due to HIV infection: 763 fewer deaths. The decrease was concentrated almost completely (76.4%) in the population 25 through 44 years old. Heart disease also had a large decrease (501 deaths) from the number in 1996. This decrease was almost exclusively among those 65 and over (93.6%).

While the change in the number of deaths due to heart disease was large, the percentage decrease was only 2.1 percent. There was a striking 42.7 percent decline in the number of HIV infection deaths from 1996 to 1997.

Cancer deaths declined by 1.2 percent over the prior year or 214 fewer deaths, the third highest absolute decrease of any of the ten leading causes of death. These deaths declined by 72 among 45 through 64 year olds and by 117 in those 65 and over. Changes in cancer death rates have varied by site over the past ten years (Table M3). The age-adjusted death rates for several cancer types have decreased since 1987, although some of these cancer sites are responsible for small numbers of deaths. Among sites with more than 100 deaths in 1997, substantial declines in the death rate were recorded for cancer of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx (a 32.1% decline) and cancer of the colon and rectum (a 26.9% decline). Cancer of the hematopoietic tissue other than leukemia was 2.6 percent higher in 1997 then it was ten years earlier. The age-adjusted death rate for leukemia was the same in 1997 as it was in 1987. The total age-adjusted death rate from all cancer types declined 9.9 percent over the period.

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