Matters of life and death: health and hospital visits.

People in Bushwick were more likely to die in 2007 than those in the city as a whole. When adjusted for the age structure of their respective populations, Bushwick's death rate per 1,000 people was 8.5, to the city's 7.1. People's lives ended less frequently than in Brownsville, with the city's highest death rate, at 10.8. But Bushwick's rate of death far exceeded that of Murray Hill, at 4.5. White heart disease is the area's biggest killer, Bushwick residents are less likely to die of heart problems than are people in 52 of New York's 61 community districts. The rate of cancer death is also far below city average. When it comes to deaths from drug overdoses and liver problems, however, Bushwick is among the city's hot spots..

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