Health data shows life expectancy hits record

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missourians are living longer lives and having fewer abortions, the latest state health statistics show.

The state hit a record for life expectancy, increasing four-tenths of a year to 76.8 years in 2004, but still lagging behind the national figure of 77.6 years in 2003, the state Department of Health and Senior Services said, citing provisional data.

"It's good news that it reached a record level," Joe Stockbauer, chief of the agency's bureau of health data analysis, said Friday.

That's partly because the state didn't have a major flu epidemic last year, he said. But there's no clear answer why Missouri lags behind the national rate, he said.

Women's life expectancy continues to outpace men's, 79.4 years compared with 74.1 years.

Abortions dropped to 12,000, the lowest total in nearly 30 years.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Missouri, as it has since 1920, but cancer is catching up and could be the top killer by 2016, the agency said.

Rounding out the top 10 are: stroke, chronic lung disease, unintentional injuries, diabetes, pneumonia and influenza, Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease and suicide. Suicide reached the 10th spot, knocking out blood poisoning in 2004.

Deaths due to cancer, unintentional injury, Alzheimer's disease and suicide increased last year, while deaths from the other causes dropped.

Included in unintentional injury deaths are fatal vehicle crashes, which dropped; falls and poisonings, which rose; and homicides and AIDS deaths, which also rose in 2004, after hitting low points the previous year.

As for birth data, the infant death rate dropped from 7.8 to 7.5 per 1,000 live births, but remained above the national rate of 6.6. Also, the low birth weight rate -- less than 5.5 pounds -- rose to 8.3 percent, the highest level in more than 40 years.

A record-high 37 percent of births were to people who weren't married.

Meanwhile, the number of marriages and divorces both continued to decline.

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On the Net:

Health Department: http://www.dhss.mo.gov