{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-blog-post-js","path":"/2017-09-27_What-kills-cbe7c0a95787/","webpackCompilationHash":"c86fe1faba64503a70e5","result":{"data":{"site":{"siteMetadata":{"title":"Effai.me","author":"Leon Tager"}},"markdownRemark":{"id":"d758c884-8e7e-5ef0-8f6e-a63ba1541ee1","excerpt":"I thought it was interesting to see what would kill me if I lived an average North American life. Google is my friend in that case so I googled top 10 causes of…","html":"

I thought it was interesting to see what would kill me if I lived an average North American life. Google is my friend in that case so I googled top 10 causes of death in the U.S. My guess is Canada is looking somewhat similar.

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Also interesting to note that there are roughly 2.6 million deaths in the U.S. annually. Although an unfortunate number, it’s a great boon for the morgue industry.

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Here is what it looks like:

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    \n
  1. Heart disease: 633,842 ~ 24%
    2. \n
  2. Cancer: 595,930 ~ 22%
    3. \n
  3. Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 155,041 ~ 6%
    4. \n
  4. Accidents: 146,571 ~ 5%
    5. \n
  5. Stroke: 140,323 ~ 5%
    6. \n
  6. Alzheimer’s disease: 110,561 ~ 4%
    7. \n
  7. Diabetes: 79,535 ~ 3%
    8. \n
  8. Influenza and pneumonia: 57,062 ~ 2%
    9. \n
  9. Kidney disease: 49,959 ~ 2%
    10. \n
  10. Suicide: 44,193 ~ 1.7%
    11. \n
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The first thing to point out is of course how much more prevalent heart disease and cancer are. In my mind, since stroke is accumulation of plaque but in a different area, I lump it together with heart disease.

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Next, there’s diabetes and Alzheimer’s which I’m convinced are rooted in hyperglycemia and insulin resistance. On top of that, a lot of diabetics will die from heart disease complications so I imagine it is already reflected in (1).

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I don’t know what to make of respiratory diseases and influenza. I never heard of anyone having it personally and was surprised to find these so high up. I also don’t know much about kidney disease.

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Finally there’s accidents and suicide. Now accidents are unavoidable by definition but it’s not really something I’m afraid of. Suicide is a more sensitive topic but suffice to say that it is 100% avoidable if you manage to not go through with it.

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And so it seems to me that if you can avoid modern age diseases (CVD, cancer, dementia, diabetes), avoid accidents and avoid committing suicide, you can live to be a nice, healthy old woman or man in 65% of the cases.

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