# What is the most/least common cause of death reported? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184 "2004-02-25T23:07:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/1 "2004-02-25T23:07:16Z")
This is probably something really obvious for the most common, but I’m curious as to what it is. For the least reported death, I’d imagine there would be multiple things where only one person has ever reportedly died from it. This doesn’t include murders where the thing that was used to kill the person was so unique that only have they been recorded as having died from it, if such a thing has happend. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/2 "2004-02-25T23:54:20Z")
You’re talking about the most common cause of _untimely_ death, I assume? (otherwise, it’s probably ‘natural causes’ (i.e. old age), isn’t it?) There are going to be a lot of deaths which only one person has ever suffered that particular kind, it depends how specific you’re going to allow it to be; i.e.: “by an animal”: lots “by an elephant” : not so many “by being sat on by an elephant”: even less “bby being sat on by an elephant named Stinky Jim”: not many, possibly zero ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/3 "2004-02-26T00:15:42Z")
I can’t quote chapter and verse (tho’ perhaps others can) but my sister works in the UK’s National Health Service and apparently - when the chips are down - the primary cause of death is respiritory failure - which can occur for a wide variety of reasons, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/4 "2004-02-26T00:15:54Z")
Untimely, yes. Scrap my least question, as it has too many variables to answer properly. ---
**Author:** ![conczepts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@conczepts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conczepts)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/5 "2004-02-26T02:36:45Z")
I’d guess auto-erotic asphixiation. (I miss Upright Citizens Brigade…) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/6 "2004-02-26T02:47:07Z")
Gotta be Chuckles the Clown being squashed by an elephant while dressed as a peanut in a parade. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/7 "2004-02-26T04:29:50Z")
Ranch house defenestration. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/8 "2004-02-26T04:59:27Z")
Most common: cardio/pulmonary arrest. Least common: Being eaten by a swarm of flying sharks. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/9 "2004-02-26T05:06:05Z")
The least common identifed accident death in the US in 2000 was a transportation death while an occupant of a street car - 1. [http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm](http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/10 "2004-02-26T05:40:17Z")
If we’re going to be realistic, and talk about real people dying of real diseases, I’d say that the WHO’s Internation Classification of Diseases (ICD) code 050 (smallpox) would be in the running for _least_ reported cause of death. The last reported case was 27 years ago, in Somalia in 1977. In fact, the code for smallpox has been dropped from the latest version (ICD-10). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/11 "2004-02-26T05:53:33Z")
I recall reading that only one person has ever been killed by being struck by a piece of an artificial satellite falling from its orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/12 "2004-02-26T06:31:26Z")
A few years back, a zookeeper died while giving an elephant an enema. Got buried in Elephant do-do, and suffocated. I bet the WHO doesn’t have a category for that! Tris ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/13 "2004-02-26T07:26:18Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I recall reading that only one person has ever been killed by being struck by a piece of an artificial satellite falling from its orbit. I haven’t heard of anyone being killed that way. Any details? And I don’t think anyone is known to have died by being struck by a meteorite either, although I could be wrong about that. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/14 "2004-02-26T08:25:54Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > A few years back, a zookeeper died while giving an elephant an enema. Got buried in Elephant do-do, and suffocated. [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/feces.htm) says: False. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the leading cause of death in the industrialized world is arteriosclerosis (thickening of the arterial wall), which underlies much coronary and cerebrovascular disease. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/15 "2004-02-26T08:26:38Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > If we’re going to be realistic, and talk about real people dying of real diseases, I’d say that the WHO’s Internation Classification of Diseases (ICD) code 050 (smallpox) would be in the running for _least_ reported cause of death. Ah, the ICD codes. Of course, there are ICD codes listed for a great many neat things, like Injury While Passenger In Space Vehicle and Injury Incident, Military, Involving Lasers. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that would be the source of a definitive answer, because as far as I can tell, there’s no ICD code for “decapitation.” I think you’d have to qualify that as “open wound, head/neck, w/ complication.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/16 "2004-02-26T08:31:36Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I recall reading that only one person has ever been killed by being struck by a piece of an artificial satellite falling from its orbit. [This](http://www.eclipsetours.com/sat/debris.html) interesting review of space debris that has fallen worldwide is unaware of any such death. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/17 "2004-02-26T08:44:56Z")
Well, I am not going to make my pal take down his poster. Damn that Snopes, anyway! Tris ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/18 "2004-02-26T12:05:25Z")
Can’t all deaths be classified as heart failure? The heart’s beating, you’re alive. It’s not, you’re dead. What induces the heart failure is another matter… OK, I know that you could technically be alive with no pulse, but not for very long. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/19 "2004-02-26T13:08:44Z")
> [@Ender\_Will](#): > > OK, I know that you could technically be alive with no pulse, but not for very long. How I love to nitpick. 😉 I saw a documentary about a guy waiting for a heart transplant who was temporarily given an artificial heart that was little more than a small turbine pump - he had no pulse, IIRC, he said that he was acutely aware of his own lack of pulse and could hear/feel the ‘whine’ of the turbine instead. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184/20 "2004-02-26T15:51:14Z")
It appear my memory is wrong. I found several references that corroborate the one Walloon linked to in saying no one has ever been killed by space debris. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-least-common-cause-of-death-reported/231184.md?page=2)