Trends in population mortality rates in the United States from 1969 to 2017

Fundamental transformations in overall population health have occurred in the past five decades and are continuing. Our aim in this study was to characterize the trends in population mortality rates in the United States (U.S.) from 1969 to 2017.

Data on the 109,836,044 deaths registered in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were analyzed by sex, race and ethnicity, and age. Temporal trends in population mortality rates were examined from 1969 to 2017. All data analyses were performed using the SEER*Stat software.

The overall mortality rate for males and females in the U.S. per 100,000 population fell by 46.1% and 39.3%, from 1,610.0 and 1,019.3 in 1969 to 867.2 and 619.2 in 2017, respectively. This decline in overall mortality was mainly attributable to a decrease in mortality caused by heart and cerebrovascular diseases. From 1969 to 2017, the overall mortality rate was higher in males than females, and in blacks than whites for both sexes. From 1979 to 2017, the mortality rates of heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and diabetes were all higher in blacks than in whites for both sexes.

The results indicate that the U.S. has dramatically reduced its overall annual mortality rate between 1969 and 2017; however, the disparities among different races are still apparent.