Introduction

In this visualization analysis, the New York City leading causes of death data (NYC Open Data 2020) was used. The data includes the main causes of death by sex and race in New York City from 2007 to 2015. The data is provided by Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), updated on Feb 8, 2020.

There are 1,094 rows and 7 columns in this data set. The columns are Year, Leading Cause, Sex, Race Ethnicity, Deaths, Death Rate and Age Adjusted Death Rate. The tools I used are Google sheets and Tableau. I used Google sheets to clean up the data initially and then used  Tableau Public to visualize the data.

Example used for reference

The example I used for reference is from the Species Extinction And Conservation Status as follow. It uses different types of line graph and pie chart to show the data of species extinction general trends clearly. Also the colors change by different year and status, which gives me inspiration for visualization.

Analysis

Section 1: Count of Deaths by Year

The count of deaths by year is plotted in Figure 1. From 2007 to 2014, overall there is a decreasing trend of deaths in New York City. In 2007, there are 53,996 deaths, and there are only 53,006 deaths in 2014. The year with the lowest number of death is 2010, and after 2010 there is a slight increase of deaths numbers.

Section 2: Crude Death Rate and Age-adjusted Death Rate by Year

The crude death rate and age adjusted death rate by year are plotted in Figure 2. According to Figure 2, it is clear that from 2007 to 2014, the age-adjusted death rate has a decreasing trend but the crude death rate is stable at around 5.3‰.

Section 3: Count of Deaths by Leading Cause and Year

The count of deaths by leading cause and year is plotted in Figure 3. According to Figure 3, there are two leading causes that caused highest number of deaths in every year between 2007 and 2014: Diseases of Heart and Malignant Neoplasms. Also, three leading causes disappeared after 2010: Atherosclerosis, Insitu or Benign / Uncertain Neoplasms, and Mental and Behavioral Disorders due to Use of Alcohol.

Section 4: Median of Death Rate by Leading Cause and Year

The median of death rate by leading cause and year is plotted in Figure 4. According to Figure 4, there are three leading causes that had the highest median of death rate: Diseases of Heart, Malignant Neoplasms, and All Other Causes.

Section 5: Count of Deaths by Gender and Year

The count of deaths by gender and year is plotted in Figure 5. According to Figure 5, both the death numbers of male and female have a decreasing trend. Meanwhile, there is a difference between male and female: the death numbers of female is higher than that of male every year.

Section 6: Age-adjusted Death Rate by Gender and Year

The age-adjusted death rate by gender and year is plotted in Figure 6. The chart on left shows a decreasing trend of age-adjusted death rate for female, from 4.5‰ to 4‰. The chart on right shows the age-adjusted death rate for male, and it also has a decreasing trend over years from 6.7‰ to about 6‰. Therefore, the age-adjusted death rate for male is about 2‰ higher than that for female.

Summary

From the visualization analysis for the leading causes of deaths in New York City, I have the following conclusion.

Overall, from 2007 to 2014, the number of deaths had a decreasing trend, so does the age-adjusted death rate. But the crude death rate is relatively stable at around 5.3‰.

The two leading causes of death every year were Diseases of Heart and Malignant Neoplasms. And there were three leading causes disappeared after 2010: Atherosclerosis, Insitu or Benign / Uncertain Neoplasms, and Mental and Behavioral Disorders due to Use of Alcohol. Meanwhile, there were three leading causes that had highest median of death rate: Diseases of Heart, Malignant Neoplasms, and All Other Causes.

For gender difference, the death numbers for female was a little higher than that for male. The age-adjusted death rate for both male and female had a decreasing trend. However, the age-adjusted death rate for female is about 2‰ lower than that of male.

Reflection

Mortality is an important indicator of the health status of the population. By analyzing the mortality rate of New York City from 2007 to 2014, I have learned the basic methods of using data to assess a demographic index. For future direction, I plan to continue analyzing the data set, especially focus on gender difference. I would count the death numbers of different age groups of each gender in NYC, in order to get the ratio of death for each age group from each gender. The comparison of death rates among different age groups of each gender is also a crucial data for studying the age difference and gender difference.

About the visualization tools, in my opinion, although Tableau is a powerful tool for visualization, it still not user friendly for new learners. It would be better to give new users more beginner guidance. For examples, use masks to guide each step of operations on the interface or provide users with more typical visualization samples.

Reference

NYC OpenData 2020, New York City Leading Causes of Death, cityofnewyork, Retrieved on 10/29/2020, <https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Health/New-York-City-Leading-Causes-of-Death/jb7j-dtam>