Americans Living Longer Than Ever

The latest vital statistics on the nation's health from the National Center for Health Statistics of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contain lots of good news. Life expectancy has reached an all-time high in the United States.

The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay observes that, in 2003, the

"We're taking better care of ourselves," Senay tells co-anchor Julie Chen. "There are better medications. There are ways to treat heart disease and cancer that we didn't have before. And certainly, many of the health messages that we've talked about for so many years, like (not) smoking, and drinking in moderation -- they're getting out there, to some degree. But Obviously, there's a ways to go in many categories."

The new numbers reveal continuing gender and racial differences, but longevity generally rose across the board.

Even though women still have a longer life expectancy than men, the gap is narrowing. Women lived an average of 5.3 years longer than men in 2003, down from 5.4 in 2002. And that's down from the peak gender gap of 7.8 years in 1979.

The new report finds that death rates declined 1.7 percent from all causes, and declined for 8 of the 15 leading causes of death. Heart disease is no. 1, and cancer no. 2 on the list, together causing more than half of all deaths in the U.S. each year.

"(The decline in heart disease and cancer are) really very promising, because it shows that some of these things we're doing now are really working."

Heart disease-related deaths declined 3.6 percent and cancer deaths dropped 2.2 percent. The third-leading cause of death is stroke, which was down 4.6 percent.

Other leading causes of death whose rates fell included suicide, flu and pneumonia, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis of the liver, and deaths from accidents and unintentional injuries.

However, notes Senay, some leading causes of death increased.

Alzheimer's disease, the eighth-leading cause of death, was up 5.9 percent. High blood pressure and kidney disease, at no. 13, rose 5.7 percent. No. 14, Parkinson's disease, was up 3.4 percent.

Parkinson's disease has been on the increase for the last 20 years, and has displaced homicide as one of the top 15 leading causes of death.

Senay called some of the increases "dramatic."

Parkinson's disease pushed homicides off the list of the 15 leading causes of death, Senay noted, and "some of this really reflects an aging population, and these are the disease that we're going to have to put a lot of energy into in the next few years to try to combat them."

This latest information, Senay suggests, should be positive reinforcement for people who live a healthy lifestyle, with good diets and regular exercise, which help to stave off many of the illnesses that cause death.

But the worrisome rise in deaths from high blood pressure and kidney disease should encourage people to take the necessary steps to keep blood pressure under control. Also, research has shown that keeping your mind active, not just your body, may be helpful when it comes to reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Early detection is key to treating and curing many illnesses, so regular visits to the doctor are also vital.