Causes of Death Among American Indians and Alaska Natives

CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control sponsored a supplemental issue of the American Journal of Public Health about the leading causes of death among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. The authors are experts from many different fields.

Death records and cancer incidence records were linked with Indian Health Service registration data to identify AI/AN people correctly, as they are often incorrectly reported as being members of other racial groups. Previous studies show that nearly 30% of people who identify themselves as AI/AN when living are classified as another race at the time of death. This linkage resulted in the most reliable data to date on causes of death among AI/AN people.

This linkage and analysis highlight several key findings. Overall, death rates are 50% higher among AI/AN people than non-Hispanic white people. Death rates have declined among non-Hispanic white people, but not among AI/AN people. Their death rates are higher for some preventable causes of death, especially for unintentional injury, suicide, diabetes, chronic liver disease, certain cancers, and alcohol-related mortality. See the press release.

Articles in Supplement

• A systematic review of community interventions to improve Aboriginal child passenger safety.
• Perspectives on mortality data from the Indian Health Service.
• Addressing disparities in the health of American Indian and Alaska Native people: The importance of improved public health data.
• Linkages to improve mortality data for American Indians and Alaska Natives: A new model for death reporting?
• American Indian health policy: historical trends and contemporary issues.
• Adapting to the effects of climate change on Inuit health.
• Historical trends and regional differences in all-cause and amenable mortality among Among American Indians and Alaska Natives since 1950.
• Community-based surveillance and case management for suicide prevention: an American Indian tribally initiated system.
• The public health foundation of health services for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
• Methods for improving the quality and completeness of mortality data for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
• Racial misclassification of American Indians and Alaska Natives by Indian Health Service Contract Health Service Delivery Area.
• Leading causes of death and all-cause mortality in American Indians and Alaska Natives.
• Period life tables for the non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native population, 2007–2009.
• American Indian and Alaska Native infant and pediatric mortality, United States, 1999–2009.
• Suicide among young Alaska Native men: Community risk factors and alcohol control.
• Suicide mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1999–2009.
• Alcohol-attributable mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, 1999–2009.
• Mortality caused by chronic liver disease among American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, 1999–2009.
• All-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in Western Alaska Native people: Western Alaska Tribal Collaborative for Health (WATCH).
• Trends and disparities in heart disease mortality among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 1990–2009.
• Trends and disparities in stroke mortality by region for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
• Disparities in cancer mortality and incidence among American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States.
• Lung cancer deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1990–2009.
• Kidney cancer incidence and mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, 1990–2009.
• Geographic variation in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality, age of onset, and stage at diagnosis among American Indian and Alaska Native people, 1990–2009.
• Cervical cancer incidence and mortality among American Indian and Alaska Native women, 1999–2009.
• Ovarian and uterine cancer incidence and mortality in American Indian and Alaska Native women, United States, 1999–2009.
• Breast cancer mortality among American Indian and Alaska Native women, 1990–2009.
• Prostate cancer deaths and incident cases among American Indian/Alaska Native men, 1999–2009.
• Infectious disease mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1999–2009.
• Death rates from human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis among American Indians/Alaska Natives in the United States, 1990–2009.
• Pneumonia and influenza mortality among American Indian and Alaska Native people, 1990–2009.
• Effectiveness of Circle of Life, an HIV-preventive intervention for American Indian middle school youths: a group-randomized trial in a Northern Plains tribe.
• Unintentional injury mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, 1990–2009.
• Health behaviors and risk factors among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 2000–2010.
• Survival on dialysis among American Indians and Alaska Natives with diabetes in the United States, 1995–2010.
• Diabetes-related mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1990–2009.