Causes of Death among the Oldest-Old: Validity and Comparability

2007 ◽  
pp. 191-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
France Meslé
Keyword(s):  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Oldest Old

Place of Death among Botswana'S Oldest Old

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mark Lazenby ◽  
Jodi Olshvevski
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Place Of Death ◽  
Age At Death ◽  
The People ◽  
Quality Of Death ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
At Home

Botswana, a country in sub-Saharan Africa, has been in the midst of an HIV/AIDs pandemic that has halted its previously lengthening life expectancy trend. However, one group to escape immediate effects on falling life span is the oldest old age group (> 80 years). Their roles in the community due to the pandemic, however, have changed. Place of death is an important consideration in end-of-life care for older adults, and one which has been well studied in the Global North. The purpose of this article is to determine where Botswana's oldest old die (home or hospital), and to see whether cause of death, gender, or residence in a city, town, or rural area is associated with place of death. We use death certificate data from 2005 and 2006 to describe where the oldest old Batswana (the name for the people of Botswana) died, home or hospital. Two-thirds died at home. The mean age at death was 88.46 (± 6.21) years; more were female (56.9%); and of known causes of death, cardiovascular disease was the leading cause (16.8%). Most stated causes of death (62.4%) were listed as “unknown.” Most oldest-old Batswana died in rural areas (70.1%), and in rural areas, proportionally more oldest old died at home compared to cities and towns. On multivariate analysis, being a woman > 80 years of age at death predicted home death. Future longitudinal study needs to determine preferences of place of death and the quality of death of Batswana > 80 years, especially women.

scholarly journals Causes of Death at Very Old Ages, Including for Supercentenarians

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
France Meslé ◽  
Jacques Vallin
Keyword(s):  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Multiple Causes Of Death ◽  
The People ◽  
Health Event ◽  
Interesting Discussion ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Multiple Causes

AbstractThe causes of death reported on the death certificates of the oldest old are generally seen as unreliable, and as thus providing little useful information on the process leading to death. However, in advanced countries, a majority of the people who die each year are relatively old, and the level of detail provided on medical certificates about the causes of death among this older population is improving. At the same time, scholars are becoming increasingly interested in studying not just the initial cause of death, but multiple causes of death, thereby taking all of the information reported on the certificate into account. This study demonstrates that in a country like France, the cause-of-death pattern evolves regularly until around age 105. The share of people dying of circulatory diseases tends to be quite stable over the age range, while the share of individuals dying of cancer is declining, and the share of people dying of respiratory/infectious diseases is rising. Furthermore, among people who die at very old ages, a typology of multiple causes of death highlights the growing importance of ill-defined causes, while opening the door to an interesting discussion about the concept of cause of death in the supercentenarian population. Instead of representing an ill-defined cause, senility could be considered an actual cause of death. This suggests that daily care is more crucial to the survival of the oldest old than any conventional medical care or treatment. Supercentenarians tend to be so frail that any minor health event or brief lapse of attention on the part of their caregivers can be lethal.

scholarly journals Widowhood and mortality: a Danish nationwide register-based cohort study

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Blanner ◽  
A. Mejldal ◽  
A. M. Prina ◽  
P. Munk-Jørgensen ◽  
A. K. Ersbøll ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Spousal Loss ◽  
Married People ◽  
External Causes ◽  
Rate Ratios ◽  
Almost All

Abstract Aims Widowed people have increased mortality compared to married people of the same age. Although most widowed people are of older age, few studies include the oldest old. As life expectancy is increasing, knowledge of widowhood into older age is needed. This study aimed to examine mortality and widowhood in older age by comparing mortality in widowed and married people by sex, age, time since spousal loss and cause of death. Methods A Danish register-based matched cohort study of 10% of widowed persons ⩾65 years in the years 2000–2009. For each randomly drawn widowed person, five married persons were matched on sex and age. Mortality rate ratios (MRR) were calculated using Poisson regression, and stratified according to sex and 5-year age intervals. MRRs were furthermore calculated by time since spousal loss and by specific cause of death. Results The study included 82 130 persons contributing with 642 914.8 person-years. The overall MRR between widowed and married persons with up to 16 years of follow-up was 1.25 (95% CI 1.23–1.28). At age ⩾95 years for men, and ⩾90 years for women, no differences in mortality rates were seen between widowed and married persons. Mortality in widowed persons was increased for most specific causes of death, with the highest MRR from external causes (MRR 1.53 [1.35–1.74]) and endocrine diseases (MRR 1.51 [1.34–1.70]). Conclusions Widowhood was associated with increased mortality in older age for both men and women until age ⩾95 and ⩾90 years, respectively. Increased mortality was observed for almost all causes of death.

785 Causes of death on heart failure

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-189
Author(s):  
M ANASTASIU ◽  
C MIHAI ◽  
C CALTEA ◽  
C SINESCU
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Causes Of Death

A Reassessment of Suicide Measurement

Crisis ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.P. Doessel ◽  
Ruth F.G. Williams ◽  
Harvey Whiteford
Keyword(s):  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Years Of Life Lost ◽  
Health Prevention ◽  
Prevention Strategies ◽  
Vehicle Accidents ◽  
The Social ◽  
Evaluation Exercise ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Circulatory Diseases

Background. Concern with suicide measurement is a positive, albeit relatively recent, development. A concern with “the social loss from suicide” requires careful attention to appropriately measuring the phenomenon. This paper applies two different methods of measuring suicide data: the conventional age-standardized suicide (count) rate; and the alternative rate, the potential years of life lost (PYLL) rate. Aims. The purpose of applying these two measures is to place suicide in Queensland in a historical and comparative (relative to other causes of death) perspective. Methods. Both measures are applied to suicide data for Queensland since 1920. These measures are applied also to two “largish” causes of death and two “smaller” causes of death, i.e., circulatory diseases, cancers, motor vehicle accidents, suicide. Results. The two measures generate quite different pictures of suicide in Queensland: Using the PYLL measure, suicide is a quantitatively larger issue than is indicated by the count measure. Conclusions. The PYLL measure is the more appropriate measure for evaluation exercise of public health prevention strategies. This is because the PYLL measure is weighted by years of life lost and, thus, it incorporates more information than the count measure which implicitly weights each death with a somewhat partial value, viz. unity.

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