The Most-Surprising Cause of Death in Connecticut Is...

Written by Patch Staff

Heart disease, cancer and respiratory illnesses regularly top the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual tally of the leading causes of death among Americans.

But in Connecticut, the leading cause of death will likely surprise you.

Yes, the Big Three of heart disease, cancer and respiratory illnesses are still killers in the Constitution State. But Connecticut residents are more likely than the average American to die of Clostridium Difficile Colitis, which was indexed to 1.65 times the national average, according to an analysis by HealthGrove, a data-driven health news and information site.

According to Dr. Zane Saul, chief of Infectious Diseases at Bridgeport Hospital, "C-Diff," as it is often called, is a relatively common health problem in the U.S., but to die from it? That's rare, he told Patch. In fact, the only other state to list that as the leadng cause of death is Virginia.

By comparison, for our friends in New York, the leading cause of death is chronic ischemic heart disease. In Rhode Island, it's atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and in New Jersey it's septicemia or infection. In Massachusetts, they're not exactly sure what the chief cause of death is, listing it as "Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified."

HealthGrove describes Clostridium Difficile Colitis as:

The bacterium, Clostridium difficile, can inflame the colon when the normal gut bacteria gets disrupted. This often occurs from antibiotics. The inflammation of the colon is referred to as enterocolitis.

"If that's the leading cause of death in Connecticut, it's probably because a hospital had high number of that occurring in a short period of time and then they got it under control," said Dr. Saul. "It's from a build up of toxins in the system, but dying from it is pretty rare. We have very effective antibiotics that can control it."

In its analysis of 2014 data from the CDC, HealthGrove looked at the 113 causes of death on the agency’s list, and found causes that were the most over-indexed in every state. Only conditions that led to 100 or more deaths per state were considered.

The data is important, HealthGrove says, because looking only at the national trend, important regional fluctuations can be missed -- and that can have deadly consequences.

The analysis in fact showed deadly regional trends. Assault also is the most over-indexed cause of death in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.

On the West Coast, hepatitis prevails and in mountain region states, suicide is the most over-indexed. Other surprising causes of death include falls in Wisconsin, HIV in Florida and emphysema in Vermont.

Click here to view the full report.