Exploring Trends

The different causes of death are listed in the table chart as shown on the right. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Massachusetts [2], but this does not give us the whole picture. Cardiovascular disease is on the decline since 1980 as seen in the trend line. Meanwhile mental, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases are on the rise. Categories such as HIV/AIDS, neurological disorders and war, forces of nature exhibit a sharp increase followed by a reduction in their trend lines. The mortality rate trend lines give us an indication of which diseases are on the rise and which are declining.

The following sections go over a few causes of death in more detail at the county level and try to establish meaningful patterns.

Cardiovascular diseases are the 2nd leading cause of YLL (Years of Life Lost) [3]. The map on the left gives us the mortality rate for cardiovascular diseases in 2014. Middlesex county and Suffolk county have the lowest deaths per 100K population. This can be attributed to the fact that both these counties have more than 96% of the population having health coverage [4],[5]. The highest rate was observed in Bristol county.

While each and every county experienced a decline in mortality rate from 1980 to 2014, the rate of decline varies according to county. Suffolk county experienced the highest decline in mortality rate.