Death Rates

Sparked by major improvements in prevention and treatment, the death rate from cancer in the United States has shown a sustained fall for the first time since scientists began keeping records, according to research to be published Friday. Since 1990, the age-adjusted death rate from cancer--which is the second-leading cause of death in this country after heart disease--has declined about 3.1%. That translates to as many as 16,000 lives saved this year that would have been lost in 1990.

We know exactly what you said the minute "The Local Burden of Cardiovascular Disease: Deaths From Heart Disease and Stroke in California Cities" was released to the media last week: "Honey, call the moving company. We're gonna go live in Monterey Park, where we'll be least likely to die of stroke. Or would you prefer South Lake Tahoe, where we'll be least likely to die of heart disease?"

With President Clinton's signing last week of the 48-hour maternity bill, modern women no longer have to feel quite so much like the pioneers who delivered their babies in the back of the covered wagons and were ready to roll on the Overland Trail by dawn's early light. Instead, starting in 1998, they can stay at least 48 hours--a move applauded by most maternal health advocates, who maintain that the longer stay is vital for a healthy start for mother and baby.

For all the differences between the cities of Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga--one is an old blue-collar steel town, the other a more up-scale white-collar community--researchers are wondering which ones may prove the difference between life and death. A benchmark study released today shows that residents of San Bernardino County are more likely than residents of any other county in California to die of cardiovascular diseases.

The first-ever city by city breakdown of deaths from heart disease and stroke in California shows that residents of Los Angeles suburbs have the highest heart disease risk, while those in the San Francisco Bay Area and the coast of San Diego County have the lowest. Although deaths from cardiovascular diseases in California have declined almost 50% since 1972, an estimated 87,000 people die from them each year.

The first-ever city-by-city breakdown of deaths from heart disease and stroke in California shows that most cities in Orange County have a mortality rate at or below the state average, although several communities have above average death rates. Residents in Dana Point had the lowest heart disease mortality rate in the county by a wide margin, followed by San Clemente and Irvine.

The national birthrate for unmarried women fell for the first time in nearly two decades last year and the teen birthrate posted a fourth consecutive annual decline, the government reported Friday. Researchers attributed the declining teen birthrate to a leveling off of previous increases in sexual activity among young people and increasing use of condoms, motivated by a fear of AIDS.

The national birthrate for unmarried women fell for the first time in nearly two decades last year and the teen birthrate posted a fourth consecutive annual decline, the government reported Friday. Researchers attributed the declining teen birthrate to a leveling off of previous increases in sexual activity among young people and increasing use of condoms, motivated by a fear of AIDS.

The first comprehensive, worldwide study of how people die has produced a number of startling findings, including the prediction that within 25 years smoking will become the single largest cause of death and disability in the world. A five-year study by an international team headquartered at the Harvard University School of Public Health also found that noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes already cause more deaths in the developing world than infectious diseases.

The breast cancer death rate among American women has dropped again, apparently reflecting the effects of early detection and treatment, according to new statistics released Tuesday by the National Cancer Institute. The decline has been especially pronounced among white women in the 1990s, reversing an upward trend from the previous decade, the institute said.