US Government Info

  1. Home
  2. News & Issues
  3. US Government Info

Inactivity, Poor Nutrition Catching Tobacco as Actual Cause of Death

By Robert Longley, About.com

In 2000, the most common actual causes of death in the United States were tobacco (435,000), poor diet and physical inactivity (400,000), alcohol consumption (85,000), microbial agents (e.g., influenza and pneumonia, 75,000), toxic agents (e.g., pollutants, asbestos, etc., 55,000), motor vehicle accidents (43,000), firearms (29,000), sexual behavior (20,000) and illicit use of drugs (17,000).

Actual causes of death are defined as lifestyle and behavioral factors such as smoking and physical inactivity that contribute to this nation’s leading killers including heart disease, cancer and stroke.

[Source: Centers for Disease Control]

Add U.S. Gov/Info's Headlines to MyYahoo

Explore US Government Info

More from About.com

US Government Info

  1. Home
  2. News & Issues
  3. US Government Info

©2008 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.