Guess: Most Preventable Deaths - What's the Cause?

[theoristo]

Can you guess what's the cause of most of the preventable deaths around the world?

 

[Pythagorean]

smoking?

 

[phinds]

Don't need to guess. Looked it us with Google in 3 seconds.

 

[phinds]

smoking?

Close. That's #2

 

[zoobyshoe]

Don't need to guess. Looked it us with Google in 3 seconds.

Wiki says worldwide, it's hypertension.

What's interesting to me is that in the U.S. this study says it's obesity:

http://www.examiner.com/article/res...is-now-leading-cause-of-preventable-death-u-s

Worldwide, obesity is way down on the list.

Also, from the above link,

They write that the shift in the relative impact of obesity and smoking has been caused both by a reduction, since 1993, in the number of Americans who smoke and an increase, during the same period, in the number of people who are obese.

There's an implication that people who quit smoking turned to food.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I find it incredibly depressing that malnutrition and obesity are both in the top ten.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I find it incredibly depressing that malnutrition and obesity are both in the top ten.

Yes, but note that the majority of people worldwide end up dying from non-preventable old age:

It is estimated that of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds—100,000 per day—die of age-related causes.[2] In industrialized nations the proportion is much higher, reaching 90%.[2] Thus, albeit indirectly, biological aging (senescence) is by far the leading cause of death. Whether senescence as a biological process itself can be slowed down, halted or even reversed, is a subject of current scientific speculation and research.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Yes, but note that the majority of people worldwide end up dying from non-preventable old age:

I know, it's just the stupidity of a world where some people die from lack of food whilst others die from too much food.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I know, it's just the stupidity of a world where some people die from lack of food whilst others die from too much food.

I must agree.

 

[turbo]

Lots of people die for lack of mosquito-nets, too. I have no idea what the numbers are, worldwide, but here is a Wiki article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito-borne_disease