They say there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. And you can at least cheat on your taxes for a while if you try. But this death thing has managed to catch up with literally everyone. If it were as simple as being alive one day and dead the next, maybe it would be less stressful and less anxiety-inducing, but it's not. When you start to dig into it, you see that there are so many ways to die, so many contributing factors, and so many unexpected and unpleasant mortality statistics that it can make you want to just hide indoors for the rest of your life.
10. Brazilian butt lift is the deadliest cosmetic surgery procedure
We admit, some things in life are more dangerous than others. Petting a tiger is more dangerous than petting a house cat. You're at greater risk after open-heart surgery than after a bunionectomy. But there are some truly staggering statistics when it comes to one unlikely procedure you might not know about. The Brazilian butt lift is the deadliest plastic surgery procedure.
The procedure, which is designed to make your butt look rounder, firmer, and fuller by injecting fat from areas of your body where it's not wanted into your butt, has the highest mortality rate of any cosmetic procedure, at around one in 3,000.
The procedure can cost up to $15,000. In 2020 alone, more than 40,000 buttock surgeries were performed, despite the risks. In the UK, surgeons have been advised against performing the procedure altogether, although it is not banned.
In a survey, three percent of doctors responded that they had a patient who died from this procedure. Most deaths can be attributed to pulmonary fat embolism, when fat enters the pulmonary system. Some are non-fatal, while others are not so lucky.
9. Mortality from Munchausen by proxy ranges from 9% to 10%.
Factitious disorder imposed on another is the current name for a condition better known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy. It's a mental disorder in which a caregiver pretends that the person they care for has an illness they don't actually have. This condition often appears to be a way for the caregiver to gain attention and sympathy, perhaps to be seen as brave or strong for trying to help someone else overcome their illness, when in fact, they are the cause of it. This can be as simple as gaslighting the supposed patient, especially a child, by convincing them they are ill, but it can also often go so far as to harm the victim in some way, by prescribing medications or even poisoning them to match their symptoms.
Since the entire syndrome is based on a false illness, it seems as if the victim might not be in such great danger, but the opposite is true. Potential caregivers often go to great lengths to coerce the victim into conforming to their false narrative, to the point that the mortality rate for this condition is approximately 91%, 3%, and 4%, respectively.
8. Catch-and-release fishing mortality is about 18%, but up to 40%.
It's not just the human mortality rates that can be depressing. Our poor fish friends in rivers, lakes, and streams across the country, who we thought benefited from catch-and-release practices, aren't as fortunate as you might think.
The idea of catch-and-release fishing seems noble enough. You catch a fish, unhook it, and release it again, enjoying the thrill of fishing while the fish lives another day. Unfortunately, according to various studies, fish mortality rates range from 181 to 401 TP3T. .
A number of factors influence what can lead to the death of a fish even after its release, with the hook position at the time of capture playing the biggest role, but it's safe to say that not all of them swim away. And tell a story to a friend.
7. The mortality rate among professional wrestlers is much higher than that of the general population.
If you're a longtime fan of professional wrestling, you've undoubtedly witnessed several of your favorites from the past die young. It's no secret in the industry that wrestlers die young. Many succumb to addiction or health problems related to past drug use. But there are also a number of accidents or other violent deaths. Ultimately, professional wrestlers rarely live to a ripe old age.
The mortality rate among wrestlers aged 45 to 54 is almost three times higher than that of the general population. As for cardiovascular disease-related deaths, the mortality rate among wrestlers is 15.1 times higher than that of the general population. Cancer mortality among wrestlers is 6.4 times higher. And drug overdose mortality is astronomically higher: 122.7 times higher than that of the general population.
As noted, this can partly be attributed to the lifestyle of professional wrestlers, especially in the past. In the 1980s, many wrestlers were well-known and admitted to using cocaine, steroids, and other drugs. And since, unlike most sports, wrestling has no off-season, these athletes trained their bodies relentlessly for years.
6. People who read have a lower mortality rate by 20%.
Good news for those of you who enjoy a good book: you're statistically more likely to have extra time to read than those who don't. People who read have a lower mortality rate in 20% than those who don't.
Specifically, you need to read books to reap statistically significant benefits from reading; magazines or newspapers won't do the trick. The presumed reason is that books engage your mind in a way that magazines and newspapers don't, leading to greater mental alertness and measurable benefits for your overall lifespan.
5. The Ford Fiesta has the highest fatality rate among cars.
Have you ever heard that red cars have higher insurance rates because they're more likely to be stolen? It's true that certain types of cars pose unique risks to owners, but if you really want to understand which car is best or worst to drive, you might want to seriously consider certain vehicles, like the Ford Fiesta.
Data from 2017 showed that the Fiesta was the deadliest car on the road, with a fatality rate of 141 per 1 million registered vehicles. Compare that to something like the Chevy Corvette (54) or the Porsche Cayenne (0).
Luxury SUVs actually have the lowest fatality rates overall, while small cars were found to be the least safe.
4. Human mortality increases in areas where trees die
Some things in life are inextricably linked. If, for example, there were no bees, flowers would suffer from a lack of pollinators. So what happens when trees start to die? People die too.
Studies have shown that as the emerald ash borer devastated tree populations, there was a significant increase in human illness. Cases of heart disease and pneumonia increased. As a result, 100 million trees died over 10 years. In states where trees died, 15,000 more people died from cardiovascular disease and 6,000 more from respiratory diseases compared to areas where trees were not infested.
The data covered 1,296 different counties and attempted to account for other variables. Ultimately, it became clear that the fewer trees, the higher the mortality rate.
3. Too much (or too intense) exercise may increase mortality rates
Of course, if you want to live longer, the key to success is a healthy lifestyle that includes plenty of exercise. Well, yes and no, that's it. There's plenty of evidence that an active lifestyle is good for you, but there's also the adage, "everything in moderation.".
The World Health Organization recommends 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week. And no, most people don't get that much. But there is some limited evidence that too much exercise at too high an intensity can have the opposite effect. This stems from a study of runners in which two participants died after vigorously exercising.
Other studies have also shown that you may be at risk for cardiovascular disease if you frequently engage in rigorous endurance exercise, such as marathons. These findings are still being debated, but there's limited evidence that pushing your training to the extreme benefits any significant benefits, so staying somewhere in the middle is probably safest.
2. Taller people have higher mortality rates
Certain traits are considered more desirable in modern Western society than others. Many of these traits are physical, and we can only control them on an individual basis. For example, there's little you can do if you want to be tall but aren't. Yet, it's hard to deny that many people find tallness desirable and attractive. So, good news for people with vertical disabilities: there's evidence that being tall isn't all they want to be. Taller people tend to have higher mortality rates.
In one study, every four inches of height increased the risk of all types of cancer in postmenopausal women by 13%. For men, every additional inch of height resulted in a 2.2% increase in the likelihood of dying from any cause, compared to shorter people.
1. Robert Liston performed surgery with a fatality rate of 300%.
We've also touched on some of the dangers of surgery, but even among the most lethal procedures, the mortality rate often represents a number that makes sense, at least mathematically. But there's at least one case where this didn't happen, and one operation managed to end with a mortality rate of 300%. If you do the math, that means one person underwent surgery, and three died as a result.
You have to take some liberties with this story, but it's well enough documented to withstand some criticism. The procedure was originally performed by Dr. Robert Liston, a surgeon in the early 1800s, before the invention of anesthesia.
Liston was apparently quite competent, but most importantly for the time, he was fast. If the operation had to be performed without anesthesia, you can imagine why speed would have been so crucial. And for this operation, Liston had to perform an amputation. He achieved this goal, removing the patient's leg in just two and a half minutes. We know the time because Liston, clearly somewhat arrogant about his skill, asked to be timed.
In two and a half minutes, Liston executed three men. His first victim was a supervising physician who was present during the procedure. As Liston sawed off a patient's leg at the thigh, he switched from one cutting instrument to another. In his haste, he cut the supervising physician's coat, and although he didn't actually cut the man, the physician was apparently stunned by the spurt of blood and the strain of his coat as Liston ripped it. He died of a heart attack.
Meanwhile, Liston needed the patient restrained for obvious reasons, so an assistant had to restrain the poor fellow. Liston severed the assistant's fingers while removing the patient's legs.
Both the surgeon's assistant and the patient developed gangrenous infections and died soon after, making Liston the only doctor ever to kill three people in a single operation.