Approximately three fourths of the more than 40,000 deaths each year among persons aged 10-24 years in the United States are related to preventable causes such as motor-vehicle crashes (37%), homicide (14%), suicide (12%), and other injuries (e.g., drowning, poisoning, and burns) (12%). To characterize changes in leading causes of death among adolescents and young adults during 1979-1988, data were analyzed from the vital statistics mortality reporting system maintained by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. This report summarizes the results of the analysis.