The Most Talked-About Diseases In The Media Are...

What diseases get talked about most in the media?

HighBeam Research conducted a study on which of the leading causes of disease death got the most media mentions over the last year. For the record, the leading causes of death are as follows, according to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

1. Heart disease (with 599,413 deaths in 2009)
2. Cancer (with 567,628 deaths in 2009)
3. Chronic lower respiratory disease (with 137.353 deaths in 2009)
4. Stroke/Cerebrovascular disease (with 128,842 deaths in 2009)
5. Accidents (with 118,021 deaths in 2009)
6. Alzheimer's disease (with 79,003 deaths in 2009)
7. Diabetes (with 68,705 deaths in 2009)
8. Flu and pneumonia (with 53,692 deaths in 2009)
9. Nephritis/nephrotic syndrome/nephrosis (with 48,935 deaths in 2009)
10. Suicide (with 36,909 deaths in 2009)

So how did the top six leading causes of death from disease fare in terms of media coverage? Click through the slideshow to find out.

Note: The fifth-leading cause of death, accidents, was not included in the ranking because the analysis only included disease.