How young people die
A recent study by the Population Reference Bureau found that in 2007, 70 percent of deaths between the ages of 18 and 24 were from injuries caused by accidents, suicide or homicide. Here are the number of deaths per 100,000 people for ages 20 to 29 from the five leading causes of death.
       
  White, Non-Hispanic Black, Non-Hispanic Hispanic
  Men Women Men Women Men Women
Injuries 70.8 22.3 49.0 14.8 55.7 13.0
Homicide 6.4 2.6 102.2 11.3 28.0 4.0
Suicide* 24.6 5.0 14.5 2.4 12.8 2.9
Cancer 6.0 4.5 6.7 6.3 5.7 5.4
Heart disease 5.0 3.0 13.8 7.4 4.6 2.0
HIV** — — — 5.7 — —
             
*Suicide ranks seventh for young black women, after HIV and complications from pregnancy.
**HIV is the fifth leading cause for young black women, the sixth for young Hispanic and black men, and the eighth for young Hispanic women.

FORT WAYNE – His daughter’s barely been gone, so it’s natural for Brad Smith to speak as if she’s still with him.

“She loves to perform,” he says.

Then he realizes his world is completely different now, shattered and broken. He takes a breath. He’s been crying. His voice is quiet.

“She was a vocal performance major at New York University. She loved to perform vocally and also act.”

Talia J. Smith, 20, who had dreams of Broadway, was killed in an accident Wednesday in Noble County. The rural Avilla native was northbound on her bicycle on Old Indiana 3 when a vehicle, also going north, struck her. She died at the scene.

And thus, Talia Smith became one of the more than 40,000 young adults in the United States yearly who succumb to injuries or violence – causes of deaths that experts say don’t have to happen.

A recent study by the Population Reference Bureau – which researches topics involving population, health and the environment – showed that in 2007, about 70 percent of people who died between the ages of 18 and 24 died from injuries suffered in accidents, suicides or homicides.
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