While deaths from stroke and several other chronic diseases are down, deaths due to chronic lower respiratory disease increased in 2008.
Stroke is now the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, down from the third place ranking it has held for decades, according to preliminary 2008 death statistics released today by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
There were 133,750 deaths from stroke in 2008. Age-adjusted death rates from stroke declined 3.8 percent between 2007 and 2008. Meantime, there were 141,075 deaths from chronic lower respiratory disease and the death rate increased by 7.8 percent. [Read more…]