What's killing Gwinnett County residents?

What most often leads to the death of Gwinnett County residents before the age of 75?

Heart attacks, strokes and other related issues tied to cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Gwinnett, according to Atlanta Regional Commission's (ARC) interactive dashboard on mortality rates. The county’s residents died at a rate of 123.4 per 100,000 in 2014, which is the latest mortality rates available. Cancer was the second-leading cause of death with county residents dying at a rate of 105.8 per 100,000.

The Atlanta Regional Commission obtained the data from the Georgia Department of Public Health. Visit the ARC website to see the complete interactive dashboard, which includes causes of death, low birth rates and teen pregnancy rates across 20 metro Atlanta counties.

The ARC also used a metric to delineate the number of years lost in each county per year before the age of 75 – the Years of Potential Life Lost (YPPL). Gwinnett County’s YPPL was lower than the average across the 20 counties, with 4,957 years of life lost in Gwinnett and 6,201 years of life lost, on average, across metro Atlanta in 2014.

Gwinnett’s leading causes of death reflect the trend of illnesses and circumstances that claimed the lives of citizens across metro Atlanta.

Cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory disease have been the leading causes of death for Gwinnett residents and metro Atlantans since 1997. However, age-adjusted death rates for both whites and blacks have dropped.

The ARC used data from the Georgia Department of Public Health to determine the mortality rates throughout 20 counties in metro Atlanta. The Office of Health Indicators for Planning via Oasis National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control as well as the CDC also contributed to the data’s sources.