LIfe expectancy climbs, abortions drop in Missouri

LIfe expectancy climbs, abortions drop in Missouri
BY DEBORAH L. SHELTON
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/04/2005

Life expectancy, births to unmarried women and births by Caesarean section reached record highs in Missouri last year, according to data released Thursday by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Abortions hit a near-30-year low.

Life expectancy reached 76.8 years, according to provisional statistics. The improved life expectancy reflected a 4 percent decline in the overall death rate from 9.7 per 1,000 population in 2003 to 9.3 in 2004.

But life expectancy in Missouri remained lower than the national average of 77.6 years in 2003.

"We're not sure of the reasons for the difference," said Joe Stockbauer, chief of the health department's bureau of health data analysis. "It's good that life expectancy increased, but obviously it could go higher." Advertisement


Both male and female life expectancy hit records. For women, it climbed to 79.4 years from 78.9. For men, it rose to 74.1 years from 73.8 years.

C-sections jumped by 7 percent last year and 47 percent since 1994, reaching 29.4 percent of all births. The rise could be the result of more elective surgeries, Stockbauer said. "This is a phenomenon that's going on all over," he said.

Abortions decreased by 3.8 percent, from 12,476 in 2003 to 12,000, the lowest number in nearly 30 years.

The rate of births to unmarried mothers reached 37 percent. Teen births overall increased 1.3 percent, but births to teens under 18 decreased 2.7 percent.

Heart disease was the state's No. 1 killer, followed by cancer, stroke, chronic lung disease, unintentional injuries, diabetes, pneumonia and influenza, Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease and suicide. Suicide replaced blood poisoning as the 10th-leading cause.

Deaths caused by six of the top 10 causes - heart, stroke, chronic lung disease, diabetes, pneumonia and influenza and kidney disease - decreased in 2004. The remaining four - cancer, unintentional injury, Alzheimer's disease and suicide - all increased.

Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in Missouri for 85 consecutive years. But the gap between deaths from cancer and heart disease has been narrowing because heart disease mortality has been declining for several decades, and cancer mortality has remained relatively stable. If the trend continues, cancer will overtake heart disease as the state's No. 1 killer by 2016.

Cancer is the leading cause of death for people younger than 85 nationally - and has been in Missouri since 2001.

Among other leading causes of death, pneumonia and influenza decreased 13.5 percent, diabetes decreased 11.3 percent and stroke deaths decreased 2.1 percent. The reduction in pneumonia and flu deaths, primarily due to the absence of a major flu outbreak, likely helped lower deaths from other causes, particularly chronic diseases.

Although there was little change in overall unintentional injury deaths, motor vehicle crash deaths declined sharply, while injury deaths such as falls and poisonings increased. Homicides and AIDS deaths rose last year after reaching low points in 2003.

The infant death rate decreased, from 7.8 to 7.5 per 1,000 live births. But Missouri's infant death rate remains above the 2004 national rate of 6.6 per 1,000 live births.

Despite the decrease in very small babies, the overall rate of low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds) rose from 8.0 percent in 2003 to 8.3 percent in 2004, the highest such rate in more than 40 years. The largest increase was in moderately low birth weight infants of 3.3 pounds to 5.5 pounds.

Live births increased 1 percent to 77,709, the highest count since 1991. That contrasts with the peak of the baby boom in 1959, when there were 98,537 live births in the state, Stockbauer said.

Multiple births remained at 3.4 percent of births, the same as 2003, but 26 percent above the 1994 rate.

Top 10 causes of death in Missouri, in descending order:
Heart disease
Cancer
Stroke
Chronic lung disease
Unintentional injuries
Diabetes
Pneumonia and influenza
Alzheimer's disease
Kidney disease
Suicide

Source: Missouri Dept. of Health and Senior Services

Reporter Deborah L. Shelton
E-mail: dshelton@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8203