The Most Likely Causes Of Death (PHOTOS)

Your chances of dying are one in one.

But how exactly you will die is up in the air. While the most common causes of death are often medically related, there are some surprising ways you can easily meet your end.

The National Safety Council annually releases Injury Facts, which lists the most current statistics on fatal and nonfatal accidents worldwide. The most recent list, published in the 2010 edition, looked at data collected in 2008.

Check out the slideshow below to see the top 22 causes of death, according to the NSC's Odds of Dying chart.

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Bitten Or Struck By Dog: 1 in 119,998

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SouPro said on 10 Thursday 2011 am28 10:07 am: I might honestly support the forever abridgment of my right to bear arms if there was an attached amendment which banned the abuse of the exclamation point key.

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[Mort]

12:45 AM on 04/11/2011

I always thought the cause of death was your heart and lungs stopping.

[brooklyncitizen]

11:49 PM on 04/10/2011

Gee...no AlQueada terrorist attack?

[Paul The Octopus]

05:37 PM on 04/07/2011

I didn't see terrorism on the list. Are you telling me we gave our freedom away for nothing! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

[brooklyncitizen]

11:49 PM on 04/10/2011

exactly.

[NotEve]

08:12 AM on 02/15/2011

This is NOT a list of "Most common causes of death" it is a list of the top ten causes of ACCIDENTAL death. There's a big difference, that whomever titled this article should have been aware of. If you are interested in the top ten causes of mortality, here they are (data from 2007):
1. Heart Disease 25%
2. Cancer 23%
3. Stroke 6%
4. Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease 5%
5. Accidents (unintentional) 5%
(The list above only applies to this 5% of total deaths)
6. Alzheimers 3%
7. Diabetes 3%
8. Influenza & Pneumonia 2%
(could be less if more people got vaccinated)
9. Kidney Diseases (Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, nephrosis) 2%
10. Septicemia 1%
[http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm]

[Paul The Octopus]

05:35 PM on 04/07/2011

HP is lazy! They want us, the readers, to do their work for them!

[gregory57]

01:00 AM on 04/10/2011

I don't understand how heart disease, stroke, or cancer can show up on a list of accidental death statistics.

[Matthew2010]

09:04 AM on 04/10/2011

Maybe because it's assumed that we don't get these afflictions on purpose? (Kidding)

[delta7777]

01:51 AM on 02/15/2011

.
Iatrogenesis is a major phenomenon, and a severe risk to patients. A study carried out in 1981 more than one-third of illnesses of patients in a university hospital were iatrogenic, nearly one in ten were considered major, and in 2% of the patients, the iatrogenic disorder ended in death. Complications were most strongly associated with exposure to drugs and medications.[16] In another study, the main factors leading to problems were inadequate patient evaluation, lack of monitoring and follow-up, and failure to perform necessary tests.[citation needed]

In the United States, figures suggest estimated deaths per year of: [17] [18] [19] [20]

12,000 due to unnecessary surgery
7,000 due to medication errors in hospitals
20,000 due to other errors in hospitals
80,000 due to nosocomial infections in hospitals
106,000 due to non-error, negative effects of drugs
Based on these figures, iatrogenesis may cause 225,000 deaths per year in the United States (excluding recognizable error).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iatrogenesis
.

[NotEve]

09:12 AM on 02/15/2011

While I agree with you that iatrogenic morbidity and mortality rates are a serious concern that needs more attention, you do yourself a disservice by quoting 30 year old data and only referencing wikipedia. Here is an interesting article on the subject: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/6/1260.full

However, I would also like to raise an important counter-point - how much preventable morbidity and mortality occurs from patients' poor compliance with their doctor's recommendations and treatments and insisting on unnecessary/superfluous treatment? I suspect that if detailed studies were available these statistics would dwarf the unfortunate iatrogenic occurrances.

[delta7777]

12:55 PM on 02/16/2011

.
Somehow the medical community seeks to claim all the laurels
for increased life expectancy, however there have been other sea changes
in general lifestyle that also greatly contribute to better mortality statistics--
notable among these are improved regulation of hazardous working conditions,
materials and toxic chemicals, major reduction in toxic air pollution,
and vastly increased vehicle safety standards.

The article you cite points out:
"greater life expectancy—from 47 years in 1900 to 70 in 1960—can be attributed almost entirely to this mastery of infection .."

if you look more closely at this vital piece of information, although Fleming discovered penecillin in 1928, it was essentially not adapted to medical use until around 1940, and in particular--not produced in any sufficient quantity until an Abbott Labs WWII project second only to the Manhattan Project developed mass production facilities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin

It is correct that this development of antibiotics is the singlular event that
accounts for most of the reduction in 20th century mortality.

It should likewise be particularly noted that the medical application of
antibiotics did not occur until well AFTER the Social Security Act of 1935.
.

[johnsopinion]

11:38 PM on 02/14/2011

Interesting. The very last two slides, 21 and 22 on a list of 23 of the most
likely causes of death, and at the lowest ratios, are the only two that
carry a possible implication of anything related to smoking! Yet smoking is
the loudest and most ferociously attacked activity for those who have finally
found a cause to die for.

No one--no one--dies until they are ready. No one.
Examine the facts--the person, the family, those in the immediate environment-
-'before' a death and the reasons will become apparent.

[NotEve]

09:22 AM on 02/15/2011

Thats because these slides are NOT depicting the highest rates of mortality. I posted the actual top ten rates of mortality above, you'll notice that tobacco use is a primary risk factor for the first four.

Unfortunately, people die every day who are not "ready." I'm not sure how you've come to your conclusion, but whether its accidental death, fear of death, premature death, or just a preference for living, not everyone faces their last moments feeling "ready."

[french queen13]

12:18 AM on 04/10/2011

No one dies before they're ready? What about murder victims?

[Aleks Hunter]

03:57 PM on 02/14/2011

"Your chances of dying are one in one."

Somewhere there is a pundit who is taking that statement as a death threat.

[stuoverit]

11:13 AM on 02/14/2011

Whoa whoa whoa, I think they forgot to include all the weed-related deaths from 2010...

[Aleks Hunter]

03:53 PM on 02/14/2011

Never mind the weed, where is the booze?

[ThinkCreeps]

08:00 AM on 02/14/2011

That's not the likelihood of dying in a certain manner. It's the probability, as viewed from the slab in the morgue in 2010, that you died that way.

[cptv8ing]

04:35 AM on 02/14/2011

I must admit I suffer from the exclamation point disease. . . and the triple period syndrome!

[ReAlaTChec]

02:16 PM on 02/12/2011

Considering the gov promotion of a national climate of fear and all the hoopla surrounding it, what are the odds of dying from terror attack?

[avicenna]

11:51 AM on 02/13/2011

Apparently less than being struck by lightning.

[GEM-592]

01:34 AM on 02/12/2011

YYAAAYYY ... sure to get a click ... no mystery why it wound up on the HP

[Adrienne L Zimmern]

10:26 PM on 02/11/2011

What about the odds of dying by "natural causes?"

[Aleks Hunter]

03:55 PM on 02/14/2011

It is perfectly natural to die if you are fatally affected in any of those situations. But you make a good point in that it is interesting that "old age" did not make the list.

[hagenjr]

09:35 PM on 02/11/2011

Strap that bike helmet on before you get out of bed. The world just aint safe.

[JayMonaco]

09:03 PM on 02/11/2011

How do you die from getting "struck" by a dog?

[ddpalmerr]

07:23 AM on 02/13/2011

I wondered about that also. The only idea I could come up with is if the dog knocks you down and you hit your head.