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Leading Causes of Death
By Race/Ethnicity
Los Angeles County

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All Races
American Indian & Alaska Native
Asian
Black
Hispanic or Latino
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander
White

Although we do not yet have complete 2020 mortality numbers in Los Angeles County, it appears that COVID-19 will likely be a significant cause of death. By October 2020, COVID death rates for Asian and Black Los Angeles County residents appear likely to rank the virus as their second leading cause of death. For Latinos, COVID-19 may prove to become their leading cause of death in 2020.

Data for 2017 unless other noted

ALL RACES

Leading Causes of Death			Leading Causes of Premature* Death
Rank & Cause	# of Deaths	AAMR⁽¹⁾	Rank & Cause	YPLL⁽²⁾	YPLL AAR⁽³⁾
1. Coronary Heart Disease	11,211	103	1. Coronary Heart Disease	51,515	N/A⁽⁴⁾
2. Alzheimer's Disease	4,179	39	2. Drug Overdose (Unintentional)	27,743	N/A⁽⁴⁾
3. Stroke	3,749	35	3. Suicide	26,016	N/A⁽⁴⁾
4. COPD	2,927	28	4. Motor Vehicle Crash	25,915	N/A⁽⁴⁾
5. Diabetes Mellitus	2,658	25	5. Homicide	24,769	N/A⁽⁴⁾
6. Lung Cancer	2,556	24	6. Liver Disease/ Cirrhosis	21,604	N/A⁽⁴⁾
7. Pneumonia/ Influenza	1,957	18	7. Diabetes Mellitus	19,102	N/A⁽⁴⁾
8. Colorectal Cancer	1,449	13	8. Stroke	16,085	N/A⁽⁴⁾
9. Liver Disease/ Cirrhosis	1,412	13	9. Lung Cancer	13,427	N/A⁽⁴⁾
10. Hypertensive heart Disease	1,402	13	10. Breast Cancer	12,224	N/A⁽⁴⁾

AMERICAN INDIANS/ ALASKA NATIVES (2014-2017⁽⁵⁾)

Leading Causes of Death			Leading Causes of Premature* Death
Rank & Cause	# of Deaths	AAMR⁽¹⁾	Rank & Cause	YPLL⁽²⁾	YPLL AAR⁽³⁾
1. Coronary Heart Disease	116	N/A⁽⁴⁾	1. Coronary Heart Disease	693	N/A⁽⁴⁾
2. Stroke	40	N/A⁽⁴⁾	2. Drug Overdose (Unintentional)	499	N/A⁽⁴⁾
3. Diabetes Mellitus	38	N/A⁽⁴⁾	3. Liver Disease/ Cirrhosis	431	N/A⁽⁴⁾
4. Alzheimer's Disease	34	N/A⁽⁴⁾	4. Diabetes Mellitus	409	N/A⁽⁴⁾
5. Lung Cancer	33	N/A⁽⁴⁾	5. Suicide	355	N/A⁽⁴⁾
6. COPD	31	N/A⁽⁴⁾	6. Hypertension	248	N/A⁽⁴⁾
7. Liver Disease/ Cirrhosis	29	N/A⁽⁴⁾	7. Lung Cancer	245	N/A⁽⁴⁾
8. Pneumonia/ Influenza	25	N/A⁽⁴⁾	8. Homicide	237	N/A⁽⁴⁾
9. Drug overdose (Unintentional)	18	N/A⁽⁴⁾	9. Breast Cancer	185	N/A⁽⁴⁾
10. Hypertensive heart Disease	17	N/A⁽⁴⁾	10. Stroke	182	N/A⁽⁴⁾

ASIAN

Leading Causes of Death			Leading Causes of Premature* Death
Rank & Cause	# of Deaths	AAMR⁽¹⁾	Rank & Cause	YPLL⁽²⁾	YPLL AAR⁽³⁾
1. Coronary Heart Disease	1,491	75	1. Coronary Heart Disease	4,450	232
2. Stroke	625	32	2. Suicide	3,208	221
3. Lung Cancer	447	23	3. Lung Cancer	2,457	123
4. Alzheimer's Disease	431	21	4. Breast Cancer	2,270	129
5. Diabetes Mellitus	411	21	5. Stroke	2,171	115
6. Pneumonia/ Influenza	382	19	6. Diabetes Mellitus	1,920	105
7. COPD	277	14	7. Colorectal Cancer	1,683	88
8. Colorectal Cancer	223	11	8. Drug Overdose (Unintentional)	1,554	105
9. Renal failure	217	11	9. Malignant Neoplasms of Liver & Intrahepatic Bile Ducts	1,406	70
10. Hypertensive heart Disease	216	11	10. Motor Vehicle Crash	1,285	81

BLACK

Leading Causes of Death			Leading Causes of Premature* Death
Rank & Cause	# of Deaths	AAMR⁽¹⁾	Rank & Cause	YPLL⁽²⁾	YPLL AAR⁽³⁾
1. Coronary Heart Disease	1,556	158	1. Coronary Heart Disease	10,825	987
2. Stroke	497	53	2. Homicide	7,032	829
3. Diabetes Mellitus	405	42	3. Motor Vehicle Crash	4,204	479
4. Alzheimer's Disease	399	46	4. Diabetes Mellitus	3,410	342
5. COPD	384	40	5. Stroke	3,099	316
6. Lung Cancer	372	37	6. Drug Overdose (Unintentional)	2,973	319
7. Hypertensive heart Disease	233	24	7. Lung Cancer	2,571	226
8. Hypertension	223	23	8. Hypertensive Heart Disease	2,245	221
9. Renal failure	218	23	9. Suicide	2,109	251
10. Pneumonia/ Influenza	211	22	10. Breast Cancer	1,896	189

LATINO

Leading Causes of Death			Leading Causes of Premature* Death
Rank & Cause	# of Deaths	AAMR⁽¹⁾	Rank & Cause	YPLL⁽²⁾	YPLL AAR⁽³⁾
1. Coronary Heart Disease	2,597	81	1. Coronary Heart Disease	15,941	341
2. Diabetes Mellitus	1,055	31	2. Homicide	14,765	266
3. Stroke	1,043	33	3. Motor Vehicle Crash	14,618	266
4. Alzheimer's Disease	875	31	4. Liver Disease/ Cirrhosis	12,992	272
5. Liver Disease/ Cirrhosis	793	19	5. Drug Overdose (Unintentional)	10,230	197
6. Pneumonia/ Influenza	485	16	6. Suicide	10,159	185
7. COPD	471	16	7. Diabetes Mellitus	8,970	190
8. Renal failure	433	13	8. Stroke	6,930	147
9. Lung Cancer	424	14	9. Colorectal Cancer	4,428	95
10. Motor Vehicle Crash	412	9	10. Breast Cancer	4,284	90

NATIVE HAWAIIAN & OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDERS (2014-2017⁽⁵⁾)

Leading Causes of Death			Leading Causes of Premature* Death
Rank & Cause	# of Deaths	AAMR⁽¹⁾	Rank & Cause	YPLL⁽²⁾	YPLL AAR⁽³⁾
1. Coronary Heart Disease	152	N/A⁽⁴⁾	1. Coronary Heart Disease	1,424	N/A⁽⁴⁾
2. Diabetes Mellitus	52	N/A⁽⁴⁾	2. Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period	750	N/A⁽⁴⁾
3. Lung Cancer	41	N/A⁽⁴⁾	3. Homicide	667	N/A⁽⁴⁾
4. Stroke	37	N/A⁽⁴⁾	4. Diabetes Mellitus	480	N/A⁽⁴⁾
5. Breast Cancer	25	N/A⁽⁴⁾	5. Breast Cancer	370	N/A⁽⁴⁾
5. Colorectal Cancer	25	N/A⁽⁴⁾	6. Lung Cancer	346	N/A⁽⁴⁾
7. Alzheimer's Disease	23	N/A⁽⁴⁾	7. Colorectal Cancer	317	N/A⁽⁴⁾
8. COPD	21	N/A⁽⁴⁾	8. Motor Vehicle Crash	302	N/A⁽⁴⁾
9. Homicide	16	N/A⁽⁴⁾	9. Stroke	266	N/A⁽⁴⁾
10. Hypertensive heart Disease	14	N/A⁽⁴⁾	10. Suicide	264	N/A⁽⁴⁾

WHITE

Leading Causes of Death			Leading Causes of Premature* Death
Rank & Cause	# of Deaths	AAMR⁽¹⁾	Rank & Cause	YPLL⁽²⁾	YPLL AAR⁽³⁾
1. Coronary Heart Disease	5,497	117	1. Coronary Heart Disease	19,804	474
2. Alzheimer's Disease	2,458	48	2. Drug Overdose (Unintentional)	12,692	454
3. COPD	1,781	38	3. Suicide	10,429	366
4. Stroke	1,560	33	4. Liver Disease/ Cirrhosis	5,903	166
5. Lung Cancer	1,292	29	5. Lung Cancer	5,889	133
6. Pneumonia/ Influenza	874	18	6. Motor Vehicle Crash	5,708	216
7. Diabetes Mellitus	766	17	7. Diabetes Mellitus	4,554	122
8. Colorectal Cancer	622	14	8. Stroke	3,716	101
9. Hypertension	568	12	9. COPD	3,667	81
10. Hypertensive heart Disease	529	11	10. Breast Cancer	3,622	98

* Premature death is death that occurs before age 75.
1) Age-adjusted mortality rate per 100,000 using 2000 U.S. Standard Population.
2) YPLL - "Years of Potential Life Lost Before Age 75." If it is expected that everyone lives to at least age 75, people who die younger are considered to have died prematurely. To measure this, L.A. County Dept. of Public Health (Public Health) uses "Years of Potential Life Lost, Before Age 75." For example, someone who died at age 63 is measured as having lost 12 years of expected life, whereas, someone who died at age 80 is measured as having lost no additional years of expected life. For deaths during the year, Public Health calculated years of expected life lost for all who died before age 75. By adding up the total years of potential life lost for each cause of death, Public Health identified the leading causes of premature death.
3) Age-adjusted rate for Years of Potential Life Lost.
4) Data not available for this racial/ethnic group.
5) Because of the small number of annual deaths among persons in this racial/ethnic group, 2014 to 2017 numbers were combined.

Source: >Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

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Leading Causes of Death By Race/Ethnicity Los Angeles County