Florida Department of Health Reports Shift in Leading Causes of Death from Infectious to Chronic Diseases
The Florida Department of Health's Mortality Dashboard indicates a significant shift in the leading causes of death in Florida over the past century. In the early 1900s, infectious diseases such as influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, syphilis, and enteric infections were the primary killers, often affecting younger populations. However, due to improvements in living standards, hygiene, and advancements in infectious disease control, chronic diseases have largely overtaken them as the leading causes of death. The dashboard provides a visual display of recent leading causes of death, categorized by age groups, race (whites, blacks, Hispanics), and sex. It also highlights improvements in age-adjusted death rates for several causes over the last 20 years, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. Conversely, rates for unintentional injury, suicide, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, hypertension, and Parkinson's disease have not improved. COVID-19 data is excluded due to a lack of com... 
