Cancer top cause of death in state

For the first time in the state, cancer has replaced heart disease as the leading cause of death.

According to the state Department of Health, which recently published its 2004 vital statistics, 10,968 people died from cancer, compared with 10,626 from heart disease.

The reason for the change, analysts say, is a statewide drop in smoking.

"When you stop smoking, you decrease the risk in heart disease," said Joe Campo, director of research services with the state Department of Health, who called the decrease dramatic.

Adult smoking in the state has dropped by 21 percent since 2000, and today the smoking rate is 17.8 percent, the fifth lowest in the country, according to the Health Department.

That means there are 205,000 fewer smokers in Washington — a number that could fill Safeco Field's seats more than four times.

Since 1999, cancer and heart-disease deaths have been decreasing: heart-disease deaths by 4 percent a year on average, cancer deaths by about 1.3 percent a year.

In other findings:

• Cremation far outpaces burial in the disposition of bodies, except in two Eastern Washington counties.

Statewide, 14,332 people were buried and 28,000 were cremated in 2004, the latest figures available.

In King County, the difference was even greater: 3,200 people were buried and 7,300 cremated.

In Yakima County, with its large Hispanic population and strong ties to the Catholic Church, it makes sense that people who die there are buried, say local funeral directors. Yakima and Adams counties are the only ones in the state where more people are buried than cremated.

"We have almost a 40 percent population of Hispanics, and a number of the ethnic Hispanic families attend church," said Michael Weber, general manager of Keith and Keith Funeral Home in Yakima. "Most always, cremation is not a mode of disposition they choose."

James Noel, executive director of the Washington State Funeral Directors Association, said he wasn't surprised by the higher number of cremations.

"Families don't have roots here in the Pacific Northwest; a majority have moved here from other parts of the country," he said. "In areas of the nation where people lived in the community generation after generation, traditions that go along with funerals and burials are stronger, but in the Northwest, where there may not be previous generations buried in cemeteries, it's easier for families to make the decision to ship the body back home or have a cremation rather than a burial."

• Areas of the state where pregnant women had late or no prenatal care are the same areas that have high infant mortality, particularly in the south Puget Sound area.

Nonetheless, the study found that smoking by pregnant women is on the decline, decreasing nearly 40 percent over the decade.

• The number of Cesarean-section births is increasing. In 2004, more than 25 percent of deliveries in the state were by C-section, compared with 17 percent 10 years ago.

• Emma and Jacob remained the most popular names for children born in 2004. For girls, that was followed by Emily, Olivia, Isabella and Hannah. For boys, the next most popular names were Ethan, Andrew, Alexander and Daniel.

The report also says that on a typical day in Washington state, 223 babies are born (six to teenagers) and 61 births are by C-section. There are 122 deaths, including 29 from heart disease, 30 from cancer, six from accidents and two by suicide. There are 110 marriages and 71 divorces.

The state has a higher death rate from strokes and suicide and a much higher death rate from Alzheimer's disease than the rest of the country.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com