WYCO Health 2020

According to data from the Wyandotte County, KS Public Health Department, from 2015 to 2019 there were 6,832 deaths in the county. Heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases were the leading causes of death.

In many central Kansas City neighborhoods, where census tracts are majority non-white the average age at death was 66, and ranged from approximately 58 to 69 years. In neighborhoods just a few miles to the west, the average age at death was 72, and ranged from 68 to 81.6 years—a difference of as much as 24 years.

On the cause-of-death mortality rate maps shown here— red represents the highest mortality rates (more deaths per 1,000 people); dark grey represents the lowest mortality rates. Mortality rates are crude rates and are not age-adjusted.

Many of the leading causes of death vary by race/ethnicity, with higher rates of heart disease and cancer seen in Black or African Americans compared to whites, and lower rates of heart disease and cancer in Hispanics compared to whites. (Diabetes, also seen at higher rates in African Americans, may or may not be recorded on death certificates as a primary cause of death and so is not shown here.)

Mortality rates within census tracts where the number ofdeaths is low (for example, below 20) can be unreliable (WYCO Public Health Department). In census tracts with a low number of reported deaths, small variations in the number ofdeaths can lead to the maps indicating a large change in mortality rates. This is important when comparing the 2015-2019 maps, included here, and the 2010-2014 H.E.A.T maps There were 6,715 deaths included in the 2010-2014 maps and 6,832 deaths for 2015-2019 maps.

• From 2015 to 2019 there were 6,832 deaths in the county, representing 4.14% of the population. Heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases were the leading causes of death. From 2010 to 2014 there were 6,715 deaths in the county, 4.21% of the population. Heart disease, cancer and stroke (cerebrovascular disease) were the leading causes of death.
• The gap in the average age of death between areas (census tracts) with a majority of Black, Latina/o/e and other People of Color residents has grown from 22 to 24 years.
• In two of the past five years, 2016 and 2020, Wyandotte County has ranked last of the state’s 105 counties for social determinants of health, according to the annual  County Health Rankings  published by the Robert Wood Foundation (the county ranked last in all five years 2010-2014).

• Increases in deaths and mortality rate: cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, kidney disease.
• Decreases in deaths and mortality rate: heart disease, septicemia.