CVD mortality, 1968-1978: observations and implications.

U.S. multiple cause of death data were examined for the period 1968-1978. Specifically, the role of cerebrovascular disease mortality as an underlying and associated cause of death was studied. The number of deaths where cerebrovascular disease was cited as the underlying cause of death declined much faster than the number of deaths where cerebrovascular disease was cited as the associated cause of death. This trend is indicative of a possible change in the role of cerebrovascular disease as an associated cause of death. Cause elimination life tables were constructed for cerebrovascular disease as the underlying cause of death and as any cause of death. In the general population, eliminating stroke as a cause of death is projected to have less impact in 1978 than in 1968, for men than for women, and for whites than for nonwhites. Tables were also constructed to examine the life expectancy gains for the group of individuals who died of cerebrovascular disease. For these individuals, the gain in life expectancy at birth ranges from 9 years for white males to 18 years for nonwhite females.