What's killing us

From the Times Ledger:

New Yorkers are living longer than average Americans. Bayside has the city’s lowest death rate and more than 88 percent of births in Elmhurst and Corona were to foreign-born women.

The city Department of Health said the life span for New Yorkers at 79.4 years for men and 82 years for women is more than a year longer than the national average.

The Health Department imparts these and other exhaustive statistics in its 112-page annual report “Summary of Vital Statistics.”

The 52,881 deaths recorded in New York City in 2009 — the most recent year for which statistics are available — were the fewest since the department began keeping statistics in 1900 and at a time the city is growing.

The 12,212 deaths in Queens were the most in any borough after Brooklyn, which had 15,790. Deaths totaled 8,666 in the Bronx, 9,868 in Manhattan and 3,764 in Staten Island.

Queens led the city in deaths from stomach cancer, meningitis, aortic aneurysm, chronic lower respiratory disease, accidental poisoning by psychoactive substances, motor vehicle accidents and accidental falls.

But Queens recorded a decrease in deaths from emphysema, pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium, complications of medical and surgical care, kidney cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.