The countries with the highest death rates from diseases such as cancer and heart disease have been revealed – and the United States has entered the top ten.
Researchers analyzed data on death rates from six common non-communicable diseases – conditions that are not caused by infection and cannot be spread from person to person – in 38 mainly high-income countries.
The diseases studied were cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, liver disease and kidney disease. The team assigned each country a death rate out of 10, with one being the best and 10 being the worst, for each disease and overall.
Turkey took the top spot with the highest overall mortality score, the researchers found, and the United States ranked ninth overall — overtaking the United Kingdom and seemingly less developed countries like Colombia and Costa Rica. Data showed Britain ranked 24th, while Australia did even better at 37th.
America’s poor ranking was attributed to a combination of high obesity rates – which increase the risk of multiple diseases – and previously higher rates of smoking.
Researchers also looked at death rates in the US and found that Mississippi, Arkansas and West Virginia had the highest death rates and Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York had the lowest death rates.
The above shows the mortality score for the 10 worst countries in the OECD. The score was calculated by taking the average of the death rate from six non-communicable diseases, including heart disease and cancer
This map shows mortality rates by country in the OECD. It showed that Turkey ranked first, followed by Hungary, Slovakia and Mexico
The research was carried out earlier this year by life insurance experts at William Russell, using the most up-to-date figures from the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
Figures were converted to deaths per 100,000 people to allow comparison between countries.
The countries were then ranked according to their death rates for each disease, and the scores were averaged to give an overall score of 10.
All countries included in the analysis are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a forum of 37 market economy countries founded in 1961.
Of the countries studied, Turkey had the highest mortality score, with a score of 8.34 out of 10, due to the selected diseases – driven by the high mortality rate due to kidney diseases, strokes and lung diseases.
The top five was completed by Hungary (8.29), Slovakia (7.57), Mexico (7.39) and Poland (7.25).
But the US ranked ninth overall, which researchers attributed to the country having the third highest number of deaths from lung disease and the sixth highest number of deaths from kidney disease.
The high rates of lung disease were linked to increased rates of cigarette smoking in parts of the country and could also be due to rising rates of vaping, which is linked to serious lung disease.
Studies suggest The fact that they come from lower economic backgrounds also increases the risk of lung diseases, which may be linked to poorer indoor air quality and exposure to hazardous particles in certain occupations such as construction and manufacturing.
A higher rate of kidney problems – medically called nephrosis – was linked to a higher rate of obesity in patients, which can cause diabetes that damages the kidneys, increasing the risk of them failing to function. There is also evidence suggests Higher opioid use increases the risk of death from kidney disease.
The above shows the mortality score by US state for each communicable disease studied. Mississippi ranked first among all US states
In the US, Mississippi, Arkansas and West Virginia had the highest death rates. Conversely, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York had the lowest rates
However, the US had lower mortality rates for deaths from cancer – where the country ranked 27th – and stroke – where it ranked 21st.
Britain surpassed the US in every measure except cancer death rates – where the country ranked 19th.
The country with the lowest mortality rate was Switzerland at 2.03. It was followed by Australia (2.57), Israel (2.7), Spain (2.75) and France (2.79).
To follow up their analysis, researchers then looked at death rates from the same six diseases in all fifty US states, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Overall, they found that states in the southern region of the US tended to have higher death rates from the diseases studied than their northern counterparts.
This was likely caused by higher rates of obesity and diabetes in the South, as well as a more fragile health care system and lower health insurance rates.
Mississippi – with the highest mortality rate of 9.39 – is one of only 10 states that have yet to expand Medicaid.
Arkansas came in second with a score of 9.05, which researchers tied to the state having the highest death rate from lung disease in the country, likely due to its higher smoking rate.
West Virginia had an overall score of 8.78, putting it third, but ranked first in the U.S. for cancer death rates and deaths from coronary heart disease. The number of lung diseases ranked third overall.
The lowest mortality rate was Massachusetts at just 1.6. It was followed by Connecticut (1.7), New York (1.8), Minnesota (1.91) and New Jersey (1.97).
Nationwide data shows that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for nearly 700,000 deaths each year.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death, after 605,000 deaths, while stroke is the fifth leading cause of death, after 162,000 deaths, and lower respiratory diseases are sixth, after 142,000.
Liver disease is the ninth leading cause of death. responsible for 56,585 deaths and kidney disease ranks 10th, behind 54,358 deaths per year.