Alzheimer's mortality varies widely between states

by: RICHARD FRANKI, Clinical Psychiatry News Digital Network

The age-adjusted death rate for Alzheimer’s disease in Washington State was more than four times higher than the rate in Hawaii for 2010, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Washington had a U.S.-leading rate of 43.6 per 100,000 population, compared with 10.5 per 100,000 in Hawaii that year, the latest for which final data are available. The national death rate for Alzheimer’s was 25.1 per 100,000, the CDC said.

Tennessee had the next-highest rate (38.5) after Washington, followed by North Dakota (37.2), South Dakota (35.9), and Arizona (35.3). After Hawaii, the lowest death rates were in New York (11.3), Nevada (14.2), Maryland (16.8), and New Mexico (16.8).

Alzheimer’s was the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States in 2010, with a total of 83,494 deaths. Heart disease was the leading cause, with 597,689 deaths and an age-adjusted death rate of 179.1 per 100,000, according to the National Vital Statistics Report.

rfranki@frontlinemedcom.com