Health Outcome HO.6 Leading causes of death by age-adjusted death rates per 100,000

Leading causes of death by age-adjusted death rate (per 100,000), San Francisco, 2004 and 2000
    2004 2000
Rank Cause Deaths Age-adjusted rate per 100,000 LCI UCI Deaths Age-adjusted rate per 100,000 LCI UCI
1 Ischemic heart disease 1,056 112 92.3 134.7 1,293 150.7 126.4 178.3
2 Cerebrovascular disease  504 53.1 39.8 69.3 588 68.1 52 87.6
3 Trach/bronch/lung cancer 361 40.9 29.3 55.4 352 42 29.9 57.3
4 Hypertensive heart disease 233 25.7 16.8 37.7 256 30.1 19.8 43.7
5 Lower respiratory infection 248 25.5 16.6 37.4 300 34.5 23.3 49.1
6 COPD 226 24.4 15.7 36.3 281 32.9 22.2 46.9
7 Alzheimer/other dementia disease 234 23 14.6 34.5 198 22.5 13.6 35
8 HIV/AIDS 178 19.6 12.2 29.8 199 23.4 15.1 34.8
9 Diabetes 143 15.7 8.9 25.5 114 13.5 7.1 23.3
10 Colon/rectal cancer 136 15.1 8.5 24.9 152 18 10.4 28.9
11 Breast cancer 110 12.4 6.6 21.4 96 11.5 5.7 20.6
12 Self-inflicted injuries 101 11.2 5.8 19.7 95 11.2 5.7 19.8
13 Liver cancer 95 11 5.5 19.7 81 9.9 4.6 18.5
14 Lymphoma/multiple myeloma 93 10.4 5.1 18.9 89 10.6 5.1 19.5
15 Pancreas cancer 92 10.3 5 18.8 91 10.7 5.2 19.7
Sources: CA. Dept. of Health Services, death master statistical file; CA Dept. of Finance, population projections.  Deaths are San Francisco resident deaths. Rates are per 100,000 population.             
Age-adjusted rates are age-adjusted to standard US 2000 population.            
LCI, UCI:  Lower and upper 95% exact confidence intervals (CI), calculated for categories with 20 or more deaths.

Data Source

Data are compiled by Building a Healthier San Francisco - 2007 Community Health Assessment.  Available at Health Matters in San Francisco, www.healthmattersinsf.org.

Explanation and Limitations

Age-adjusted rates are adjusted for differences in the age structures of populations or population groups, and so are well suited for comparing the overall force of mortality across different populations or within a population over time. Such comparisons are valid as long as they are all calculated by adjusting to the same standard population. Rates here are adjusted to the United States 2000 standard population, using the age categories of the Global Burden of Disease tables. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) suggests not using these rates for ranking, because they are subject to the weighting of the standard population.