In a nation in which every third citizen is obese, it should come as no surprise that the leading cause of death in virtually all states (except the "healthier" ones) is heart disease. Which the map below, of most common sources of death in any state using CDC data, confirms is precisely the case.
Fig 1: Leading Cause Of Death By State
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No surprises there.
However, that doesn't mean that every "average" American is doomed to die from a heart attack.
According to a recent study [7]by the CDC looking at the most distinctive deaths by state, by which they mean which type of death is abnormally represented relative to the national mean, Americans have a veritable cornucopia of ways in which they "pass" depending on which state they call home.
As the CDC observes, the resulting map depicts a variety of distinctive causes of death based on a wide range of number of deaths, from 15,000 deaths from HIV in Florida to 679 deaths from tuberculosis in Texas to 22 deaths from syphilis in Louisiana. The largest number of deaths mapped were the 37,292 deaths in Michigan from “atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, so described”; the fewest, the 11 deaths in Montana from “acute and rapidly progressive nephritic and nephrotic syndrome.” The state-specific percentage of total deaths mapped ranged from 1.8% (Delaware; atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, so described) to 0.0005% (Illinois, other disorders of kidney).
For the Illinois fans: the reason "gunshot wounds" is not shown is because it is not a part of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, which is where the CDC pulled its disease sample from.
So without further ado, here is the color-coded map of "most distinctive causes of death by state, 2001-2010." Twenty-three different causes of death were identified. The most common was “other and unspecified acute lower respiratory infections,” seen in 6 states (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin).
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Source: CDC [7] [7]
