A respiratory illness called pneumonitis which is seen mainly in people 75 and older, has supplanted homicide as a leading cause of death in the U.S.

Death rates increased for Alzheimer’s disease, which is the nation’s sixth-leading killer.

Also increased are, Kidney disease (No. 8), chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (No. 12), Parkinson’s disease (No. 14) and pneumonitis.

U.S. life expectancy for a child born in 2010 was about 78 years and 8 months, up about a little more than one month from life expectancy for 2009.

Heart disease and cancer remain the top killers, accounting for nearly half the nation’s more than 2.4 million deaths in 2010. But the death rates from them continued to decline.

Deaths rates for five other leading causes of death also dropped in 2010, including stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, flu/pneumonia and blood infections.