Will anemia kill you?

Well, that depends of course – however, anemia can be deadly. In 2006, the latest data available, 3,996 deaths were attributed to anemia (that’s 1.3 per 100,000 population). In comparison, heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, accounted for 631,636 deaths in 2006, a rate of 200.2 per 100,000 population. However, the risk of death from anemia appears to increase with age. The data for 2006 illustrates this:

Under 1 year – 11 deaths
1 to 4 years – 26 deaths
5 to 14 years – 34 deaths
15 to 24 years – 93 deaths
25 to 34 years – 141 deaths
35 to 44 years – 192 deaths
45 to 54 years – 232 deaths
55 to 64 years – 304 deaths
65 to 74 years – 401 deaths
75 to 84 years – 975 deaths
85 years and over – 1,587 deaths

Anemia deaths by age in the United States, 2006

For more data on anemia, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/anemia.htm.