Tracking the Leading Causes of Death in the U.S. (1999–2017)
Overview
This project uses public data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) to visualize long-term mortality trends in the United States from 1999 to 2017. The analysis focuses on national trends over time, geographic differences by state, and comparisons across major causes of death.
Focus Causes
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
- Stroke
- Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease (CLRD)
- Unintentional Injuries
Data
Source: NCHS (data.gov)
Key fields used: year, state, cause of death, total deaths, and age-adjusted death rate.
Visualizations & Insights
- Top causes by total deaths across the full period (Heart Disease and Cancer dominate)
- Heatmap of age-adjusted death rates showing declines in several causes over time while Unintentional Injuries rises
- Choropleth maps comparing Heart Disease death rates by state in 1999 vs. 2017 using a consistent scale
- Trend comparison showing why age-adjusted death rate can fall while total deaths increase (population growth + aging)
- Percent-change comparisons highlighting the sharp rise in Unintentional Injuries
- Python (Pandas, Matplotlib)
- R (usmap, ggplot2, dplyr)
Code & Analysis
The full analysis workflow—including cleaning, aggregation, and visualization—was implemented in Python and R. The notebook reproduces the figures and summary comparisons used in the final report, and the R script generates the state-level choropleth maps.
Files