In its most recent death and mortality report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention broke down the numbers from 2017 deaths into specific categories in order to track the top causes of death of Americans, CBS News reports.
Sticking to an over 90-year precedent, heart disease came in first, taking the lives of nearly 650,000 Americans in 2017, according to the CDC. Heart disease accounted for 23% of the total 2.8 million deaths in the report.
Cancer-related deaths held the No. 2 spot, totaling close to 600,000 deaths, with lung cancers being the most deadly of the group, responsible for 145,932 deaths. Diabetes held the seventh most deadly spot, the CDC reports.
Unintentional injuries held the third deadliest spot totaling nearly 170,000 deaths, 40,000 of which were caused by car accidents.
Many of the top 50 causes were more surprising, such as pneumonitis, which held the 25th spot. Certain forms of pneumonitis were linked to vaping oils with vitamin E acetate (often found in THC vaping products) by the New England Journal of Medicine in multiple 2019 studies.
According to the report, 14,542 Americans were killed by attackers using guns in 2017, making gun-related homicides the 31st most common killer in the United States, while gun-related suicides were 21st, with 23,854 deaths.
Nutritional deficiencies killed over 7,000 people, placing them in the 42nd spot. Nutritional deficiencies can be caused by malnutrition, undernutrition, or disorders that prevent the body from absorbing nutrients from food.
Anemia, a condition where an individual lacks red blood cells and most commonly causes fatigue, came in 50th. There are rarer and more severe forms of the disease, such as aplastic anemia, where the body stops producing new blood cells altogether. Anemia killed 5,382 people in 2017.