Comparative Analysis of Mortality in the United States in 1980 and 2019

Objectives: The study aims to compare and analyze the mortality patterns of two different years (1980 and 2019) with unique peculiarities in the United States by applying basic (Inferential and descriptive) statistical tools to elucidate the findings in simple terms.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, comparative, and observational data analysis on leading causes of death in the United States by age, race, and gender in 1980 and 2019. The data in this report are based on information from all death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The causes of death are ranked by age and number of deaths, and classified by the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD–10). (Cause-of-death statistics are based on the underlying cause of death).

SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) version 29 Software in Excel sheet was used to analyze the datasets. Descriptive and inferential (parametric and non-parametric) analyses were used. The statistically significant relationships and assumptions were made using chi-square/t-test, variance, Pearson’s correlation, and Fischer’s exact tests with the significance level set at p ≤ 0.05. The analysis and determination of the level of agreement between the initial diagnosis and findings from the new analysis were done.

Results: The total number of deaths recorded in the United States in 2019 was about 2,854,838, with a mortality rate of 869.7 per 100,000 population, while the total number of deaths in 1980 was 1,989,841. In the adult population, the five major causes of death were heart disease, cancer, accidents, respiratory diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases. There were more deaths in 2019 than in 1980, and the mean age was 15-24 for both years. The common cause of death in 1980 from birth till the age of 24 remains higher. The highest mortality rates for age 45-65 remained cardiovascular disease in both 1980 and 2019. The Pearson correlation has a positive linear trend (r = 0.947, p < 0.01). There is a strong positive correlation between the number of deaths attributed to all causes for males and females, indicated by the coefficient is significant (p < 0.001). The variability in the number of deaths is higher among males (74.4855) than females. Male deaths are higher, with female is barely over 40% of total deaths. The analysis reveals an upward trend in mortality rates from 1980 to 2019, with a substantial increase observed in 2019. The model's high R² value of 0.897 indicates that the model explains a significant portion of the variability in the data.

Conclusions: There is higher Mortality in 2019 than in 1980, and this cuts across the most common cause of death despite a lower rate of death. The decrease in mortality rate over two decades is likely associated with advancement in health care provision despite the increase in population growth. There was a significant reduction in deaths due to unintentional injuries among individuals aged 15-24 in 2019, with an increase in deaths from mental illness and suicides and a strong positive trend and correlation between the number of deaths in 1980 and 2019.