Homicide drops off list of top 15 causes of death

Atlanta --

For the first time in 45 years, homicide has fallen off the list of the nation's top 15 causes of death, government health officials said Wednesday.

Murder dropped enough in 2010 that it was overtaken at No. 15 by a respiratory illness called pneumonitis that is seen mainly in people 75 and older. This is the first time since 1965 that homicide failed to make the list, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's annual report on deaths contained several nuggets of good news:


-- U.S. life expectancy for a child born in 2010 was about 78 years and 8 months, up a little more than one month from life expectancy for 2009.


Death rates for those dropped in 2010, and for five others: stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, flu/pneumonia and blood infections.

Top 15 killers

Leading causes of death in the United States in 2010:

1. Heart disease

2. Cancer

3. Chronic lower respiratory diseases

4. Stroke/disease of blood vessels in the brain

5. Accidents

6. Alzheimer's disease

7. Diabetes

8. Kidney disease

9. Flu and pneumonia

10. Suicide

11. Septicemia (blood infections)

12. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis

13. High blood pressure

14. Parkinson's disease

15. Pneumonitis