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Timothy J. Tyson, PhD
Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services Madison

Don E. Detmer, MD
University of Virginia Charlottesville

JAMA. 1994;271(9):659.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—The recent article by Drs McGinnis and Foege¹ identifies and quantifies major nongenetic factors that contribute to death in the United States. They found that 50% of all deaths in 1990 were attributable to tobacco, diet and activity patterns, alcohol, microbial agents, toxic agents, firearms, sexual behavior, motor vehicles, and illicit drug use. McGinnis and Foege then note the significance of these findings for health policy priorities. We wholeheartedly applaud their effort and wish to propose and encourage the development of an etiologically based classification of diseases as a supplement to our current mélange known as the International Classification of Diseases. We have been involved in similar research aimed at estimating the contribution of social and behavioral factors to mortality and believe there is great benefit to a cause of death classification system that reflects true etiology.

At present, we classify disease using a potpourri of discordant . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Deputy Editor (West), and Margaret A. Winker, MD, Senior Editor.

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