Leading Cause of Death in men

The following is from Medical News Today and was from June 24, 2020.

Most common causes of death for men

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the top killer when analyzing data from males of all age groups and ethnicities in a large 2017 data set for the United States. Nearly one-quarter of death in males is due to heart disease.

But, to understand the full picture, it makes more sense to look at the data broken down by age or ethnicity, as this changes the landscape quite significantly.

While heart disease may be the most common reason for death in all males taken together, accidents occupy the top spot for those under 45 years of age. In males between the ages of 45 and 85, it is cancer. Once men reach 85 years old, heart disease is the most common cause of death.

In males under 45 years, suicide is the second most common reason for death, while in males between the ages of 45 and 64, it is the sixth most common reason.

In males over 65 years, suicide is not one of the 10 most common reasons.

The third most common cause of death in males under 20 years of age is homicide. Between the ages of 20 and 44, homicide is in the fourth position, while it drops out of the list of the top 10 in males over 45 years.

When breaking down the data by ethnicity, heart disease once again takes the top spot for males of all ages, with cancer coming in the second position, except for Asian or Pacific Islanders where they are the other way around.

Rank	White	Black	American Indian or Alaska Native	Asian or Pacific Islander	Hispanic	All races and origins
1	Heart disease 24.7%	Heart disease 23.7%	Heart disease 19.4%	Cancer 24.8%	Heart disease 20.3%	Heart disease 24.2%
2	Cancer 22.4%	Cancer 20.2%	Cancer 16.4%	Heart disease 22.6%	Cancer 19.4%	Cancer 21.9%
3	Accidents 7.2%	Accidents 7.9%	Accidents 13.8%	Stroke 6.6%	Accidents 11.5%	Accidents 7.6%
4	Chronic lower respiratory diseases 5.9%	Homicide 5.0%	Diabetes 5.9%	Accidents 5.6%	Stroke 4.7%	Chronic lower respiratory diseases 5.2%
5	Stroke 4.1%	Stroke 4.9%	Chronic liver disease 5.3%	Diabetes 4.3%	Diabetes 4.7%	Stroke 4.3%
6	Alzheimer’s disease 2.9%	Diabetes 4.3%	Suicide 4.3%	Chronic lower respiratory diseases 3.2%	Chronic liver disease 4.0%	Diabetes 3.2%
7	Diabetes 2.8%	Chronic lower respiratory diseases 3.2%	Chronic lower respiratory diseases 4.2%	Influenza and pneumonia 3.1%	Suicide 2.9%	Alzheimer’s disease 2.6%
8	Suicide 2.7%	Kidney disease 2.6%	Stroke 3.1%	Suicide 2.7%	Chronic lower respiratory diseases 2.5%	Suicide 2.6%
9	Influenza and pneumonia 1.9%	Septicemia 1.7%	Homicide 1.9%	Alzheimer’s disease 2.1%	Homicide 2.4%	Influenza and pneumonia 1.8%
10	Chronic liver disease 1.7%	Hyper-tension 1.6%	Influenza and pneumonia 1.8%	Kidney disease 2.1%	Alzheimer’s disease 2.1%	Chronic liver disease 1.8%

The third most common cause of death is accidents in all males, except for Asian or Pacific Islanders, where it is stroke.

In position four, the reasons for dying become significantly more diverse. For all males taken together, as well as for white males as a subgroup, it is chronic lower respiratory diseases. For Black males, it is homicide, while for American Indian or Alaska Native males, it is diabetes, for Asian or Pacific Islander males, it is accidents, and for Hispanic males, it is stroke.

Suicide features in the eighth position for Asian or Pacific Islander and white males, in the sixth position for American Indian or Alaska Native males, and in the seventh position for Hispanic males. It is not in the 10 most common reasons for death for Black males.