The Mansfield/Ontario/Richland County Health Department has posted the totals for causes of death in 2013 as well as the statistics for births in the county.
The statistics do not include deaths or birth recorded in Shelby that are handled by the Shelby City Health Department. There may be a few changes in the causes of death as three deaths are still pending autopsy reports.
Deaths
· There were 1,090 deaths in the county last year, split evenly between males and females.
· Heart disease and heart attacks remain the number one cause of death in the county with 397 deaths, accounting for 36 percent of all deaths.
· Cancer remained the second leading cause of death with 206 fatalities. Lung diseases followed with 94 deaths.
· Alzheimer’s/Dementia is listed as the fourth leading cause with 73 deaths. The Health Department has tracked Alzheimer’s as a cause of death since 2001. Alzheimer’s eclipsed flu/pneumonia as the fourth leading cause of death. Flu/pneumonia is the fifth leading cause of death, followed by strokes and then renal/kidney disease. Accidental death by falls, traffic crashes, and drug overdoses also topped 40 deaths.
Births
· There were 1,111 births in the county last year, 50 fewer than last year and the lowest total in the last 23 years.
· There were 133 births to teens (ages 13 to 19). The percentage of teen births (12 percent) is lower than last year and the fifth lowest percentage of teen births in the last 23 years.
· The number of births to unwed mothers was just over 37 percent was up slightly from last year. Unwed teens accounted for 30 percent of the total unwed in county births.
· There were 707 repeat births (second or more birth to the same female).
The complete list for Richland County deaths and births by year and cumulative totals can be found at www.richlandhealth.org in the Department listings under Vital Statistics.
