The #1 cause death in Massachusetts is cancer and it's on the rise in younger people according to studies. Over 12,000 people will have died from cancer in 2023 in Massachusetts.

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My wife died from a rare and aggressive from of breast cancer (triple negative) in 2020. She was diagnosed in September of 2017 at just 31 years old and ultimately succumbed to the disease.

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The rates at which breast, colon, and pancreatic cancers are being discovered in people under 50 is concerning.

In 2019 alone, the highest number of early-onset cases (12,649) were breast cancers. From 2010 to 2019, rates of gastrointestinal cancers were the fastest-growing among all early-onset cancers, the study found.

Gastrointestinal cancer rates among people under age 50 jumped almost 15% over the period, from 6,431 to 7,383 cases. In addition to colon cancer (nearly 2%), cancers of the appendix (15.6%), bile ducts in the liver (8%) and pancreas (2.5%) had the fastest growth rates, they noted.

Another study suggested that early onset cancers will increase by 31% by 2030 will deaths rising by 21%.

Contributing factors

tobacco
alcohol
bad diet
physical inactivity
obesity
genetics

The 10 Leading Causes of Death in Massachusetts

10. Chronic Liver Disease/Cirrhosis

The main factors that lead to this are viruses, obesity, and alcohol misuse.

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9. Kidney Disease

Diabetes and high blood pressure are the main causes of kidney disease.

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8. Alzheimer's Disease

The causes probably include a combination of age-related changes in the brain, along with genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.

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7. Diabetes

Type 1 you're born with, type 2 you develop with poor diet choices and physical inactivity.

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6. Stroke

There are two main causes of stroke, a blocked artery (ischemic stroke) or leaking or bursting of a blood vessel (hemorrhagic stroke).

5. Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases

Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Flu, and more all contribute to this conditions .

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4. Accidents

Pedestrian deaths were up 35% last year (2022).

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3. Covid-19

The pandemic was still high on the list of leading causes of death in Massachusetts.

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2. Heart Disease

Leading risk factors for heart disease and stroke are high blood pressure, high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and secondhand smoke exposure, obesity, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity.

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1. Cancer

Breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, uterine, and bladder cancers, in that order, are the top types of diagnosed disease in Massachusetts and nationally.

An estimated 12,500 people will die of cancer in 2023 in Massachusetts. The above data courtesy of cdc.gov

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