In medicine, death by natural causes is a loosely-defined term used by coroners describing death when the cause of death was a naturally occurring disease process, or is not apparent given medical history or circumstances. Thus, deaths caused by active human intervention (as opposed to the failure of medical intervention to prevent death) are excluded from this definition, and are described as unnatural deaths.
The majority of deaths in most countries are due to natural causes, and the majority of those deaths occur in old age.
In the United States for example, the most common natural cause of death is heart disease, accounting for 30% of all deaths. Other common natural causes are stroke, Alzheimer's disease, congenital anomalies, genetic disorders (such as cystic fibrosis), serious infections, and respiratory disorders (figures as of the year 2000).
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