Ever wondered how many people die from sleep apnea, asthma or vaccines? What about the number of deaths from diabetes, obesity and the flu? We’ll cover those and more in this surprising deaths section of the Ways to Die website.
Deaths From Diabetes
You might not consider diabetes to be a major disease. After all, one form can be cured with a change in your diet and the other can be managed with medication. But it’s actually a very serious condition and the global deaths from diabetes reflect that. More than 1.5 million people every year are said to die from diabetes and diabetes related conditions.
That’s because it can directly impact the kidneys and heart. It can also trigger serious conditions that don’t result in death, such as limb amputations and blindness. In other words, deaths from diabetes are very real and this condition should not be downplayed.
Deaths From Asthma
Asthma is another condition that can be managed with medication and is therefore considered to have a low level of risk, but like diabetes, deaths from asthma are very real. As discussed in an article on Deaths from Weed, Alcohol and Other Drugs, smoking accounts for a significant number of deaths every year and the risk increases in those who have asthma. This condition can also be caused by smoking and passive smoking, with more than 40,000 people dying from secondhand smoke every year in the US alone.
As for deaths directly from asthma, it changes from country to country. In Europe, it is said that 3 people will die from asthma every day. In Australia, which has a much smaller population, over 400 people die a year, which is higher than many other countries on a percentage basis. In the US, deaths from asthma number about 10 a day.
Overall, across the globe asthma deaths number over 250,000 a year. Obviously the above figures don’t come close to this number, but you have to consider that developing countries have limited care available and it is those countries that are inflating this number.
Deaths From Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a scary condition, but is it deadly? Well, you might be surprised to learn that there are many deaths from sleep apnea every year. It’s rarely the only cause, but it can be and it is even said to have played a part in the death of Carrie Fisher.
22 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, a condition more common in those who are obese (see Deaths from Obesity below). The problem comes when the cases go undiagnosed and the sufferers live alone. This is where risk of death from sleep apnea increases.
It is hard to judge how many deaths from sleep apnea there are because it’s rarely the main cause, as mentioned above. People who die from sleep apnea may have their death marked down as substance abuse, overdose, obesity, heart failure or any other number of things that can be triggered by this disorder.
Deaths From Vaccines
Vaccines have been in the news a lot lately. We’re not in the business of angering readers, regardless of their beliefs. But the anti vax movement was clearly built on a lie told by a quack doctor who was disproved. We understand the fear of the unknown and the paranoia that the government don’t have the best interests of our children at heart. But you can’t argue with the facts and they show that deaths from vaccines are few and far between and that there is no concrete proof they cause autism.
What we do know, however, is that there have been many deaths resulting from vaccine paranoia, with parents refusing to allow their children to be vaccinated and those children then developing the very disease they were supposed to be vaccinated against.
The anti-vaccine deaths number in the thousands, with one figure putting it as high as 9,000 in the years between 2007 and 2015, when the anti-vax movement began to take hold.
Deaths From Energy Drinks and Caffeine
When energy drinks first hit the market people were led to believe that the taurine was the magical ingredient. It was labelled prominently and it was something they hadn’t heard of, so they pinned all the benefits on it. However, this is just an amino acid, and an abundant one at that. The truth is that it’s the sugar and caffeine and it always has been.
These drinks are consumed in large quantities, often by kids and teens that don’t have the caffeine tolerance adults might have. As a result, deaths from energy drinks are not uncommon. In fact, a friend of the site had a stroke when he was just 16 because of too many energy drinks and everyone seems to know someone who suffered in a similar way.
Cases of death from energy drink consumption have cropped up all over the world, but most of these are recorded as deaths from caffeine overdose. The number of such deaths is under 100, and that covers several decades.
Such an overdose is rare, especially when consuming coffee and tea. Bu with the invention of energy drinks and super-strength coffee, whereby you can hit an overdose level with just a liter of liquid, they have become more common.
Deaths From Anesthesia
Anesthesia is not always an exact science and deaths from Anesthesia do occur. There are mistakes made and sometimes the patient has an unexpected reaction. In the 1940s, when the science was in its infancy, it was said that over 600 would die per 1 million operations. As you would expect, this number dropped as time went on, but for some strange reason, it’s back on the rise.
This is likely the result of added stress and pressure on hospitals, which leads to fewer checks, more mistakes and less experienced medical professionals. Deaths from anesthesia are just 7 per 1 million, but death in the year following anesthesia is much higher. If you are over the age of 65 it’s 1 in 10, if you are younger it’s 1 in 20.
Of course, that’s not always the fault of the anesthesia. The simple fact is that 1 in 20 people who need surgery that requires full anesthesia either were seriously ill or still are seriously ill. So it’s the illness, as opposed to the anesthesia, that gets them.
Deaths From Obesity
There are many deaths from obesity the world over and it is considered an epidemic in some countries, the US included. In the United States, it is second only to death from tobacco. As discussed in our Easy Ways to Die and Worst Ways to Die articles, there are many things that can kill you, but if you’re obese it seems that you chance of dying from most of these things increases.
Deaths from obesity number over 300,000 in the US every single year.
Deaths From Flu
In days gone by, deaths from flu were far more common. This disease is easily treatable now, but it can still kill the old and infirm and in the past it has been responsible for millions more deaths, potentially including Queen Elizabeth the First. It is said that deaths from the flu number over 40,000 per year in the United States.
This is roughly the same number as the murder rate in the US every year. So, roughly the same people die from murder as die from the flu and from secondhand smoking issues.
Deaths From Hazing
Hazing incidents gone wrong are rare, but not unheard of. College campuses, gangs and other organizations have what would be considered extreme hazing rituals and these can result in death.
Deaths from hazing number in the hundreds over the course of a couple centuries and these are getting more common in recent years. However, that might be more down to better record keeping than anything else.