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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Quantifying the contribution of leading causes of death to mortality decline among older people in England, 1991-2005 | | Author(s) | Charlotte Ashton, Madhavi Bajekal, Rosalind Raine |
| Journal title | Health Statistics Quarterly, no 45, Spring 2010 |
| Pages | pp 100-128 |
| Source | http://www.statistics.gov.uk |
| Keywords | Diseases ; Death rate [statistics] ; Life expectancy tables ; Cross sectional surveys ; Longitudinal surveys ; England. |
| Annotation | Between 1971 and 2005 the life expectancy of men aged 50 years increased by more than in the whole of the rest of the 20th century. This paper quantifies the contribution of leading causes of death to mortality change between 1991 and 2005 for people aged 50 years and over in England. The ageing population has not only had an important impact on health and social services, but was responsible for sparking the pensions crisis affecting both the public and commercial sector. A cross-sectional analysis was used to quantify trends in cause-specific mortality in terms of absolute and relative change between 1991 and 2005 in the population aged 50 and over. Absolute change is quantified in terms of the numbers of deaths prevented or postponed (or conversely, increased or brought-forward) in a year compared to deaths in the baseline year. The percentage change in age-standardised rates was used to identify relative change in causes of death. Age-standardised mortality declined by 30% for men; this resulted in 86,477 fewer male deaths in 2005 than would have occurred had 1991 rates persisted. For women the age-standardised mortality rate declined by 20%, resulting in 48,406 deaths postponed (or fewer deaths) in 2005. Of the total numbers of deaths postponed in 2005, ischaemic heart disease contributed the largest share for both men and women. Mortality rates from some conditions increased; liver disease rates demonstrated some of the largest increases for both men and women aged 50 and over. The trends of decreasing mortality rates from ischaemic heart disease and stroke have continued into the 21sr century; however, both causes continue to be the biggest killers in England. They are projected to remain so, and consequently, to contribute significantly to the burden of disease in the population. The steady increase in liver disease mortality identified highlights the importance of tackling alcohol misuse as a public health priority. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-100517207 A |
| Classmark | CJ: S5: S7: 3KB: 3J: 82 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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