Coronary heart disease was the leading cause of death for people aged 45–64 and people aged 75–84. For people aged 65–74, the leading cause of death was lung cancer followed by coronary heart disease, and for people aged 85 and over, it was dementia including Alzheimer's disease, followed by coronary heart disease.
This article outlines the top causes of death for adults over the age of 65, starting with the number one cause: heart disease. Using disease prevention strategies, such as eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight, can help you avoid or reduce the impact of some these conditions.
Heart disease and cancer have been the two leading causes of death for persons 65 years of age and older for the past two decades, account- ing for nearly a million deaths in 2002. Nearly one-third of all deaths among older persons were due to heart disease, including heart at- tacks and chronic ischemic heart disease.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. This is the case in the U.S. and worldwide.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for most of the groups.
#1 – Heart Disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and can affect women at any age. Over 60 million women are living with some form of heart disease.
In males between the ages of 45 and 85, it is cancer. Once men reach 85 years old, heart disease is the most common cause of death.
Cause 1: Ischaemic heart disease
Ischaemic heart disease was the leading single cause of deaths in Australia, responsible for 17,331 deaths in 2021, about one in 10 of total deaths that year. Males were more prone to the disease, accounting for 10,371 (59.8%) of the deaths compared to 6,960 (40.2%) for females.
However, if a man is healthy enough to reach age 70 this year, the Social Security actuarial tables indicate he could live an average of 15.4 years more.
Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night. But, older people tend to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier than they did when they were younger.
Who is Defined as Elderly? Typically, the elderly has been defined as the chronological age of 65 or older. People from 65 to 74 years old are usually considered early elderly, while those over 75 years old are referred to as late elderly.
At the population level, diabetes and high alcohol consumption have a low prevalence. Physical inactivity, smoking and low socioeconomic status (SES) are then the top three preventable causes of early death. Smoking, physical inactivity and low SES account for almost two thirds of all avoidable deaths.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women.
The biggest killer of men under 50 is suicide, and nearly 3/4 of all suicides are men.
Suicide Prevention Strategy
Suicide is the biggest killer of people under the age of 35 and the biggest killer of men under the age of 50.
In the elderly, should prescription medication be necessary, the first-line treatment is nonbenzodiazepines (e.g., zolpidem, eszopiclone, zaleplon, and ramelteon) as they have been found to be safer and better tolerated than tricyclic antidepressants, antihistamines, and benzodiazepines.
Medicine for breathlessness – midazolam or an opioid. Medicine for anxiety – midazolam. Medicine for delirium or agitation – haloperidol, levomepromazine, midazolam or phenobarbital. Medicine for nausea and vomiting – cyclizine, metoclopramide, haloperidol or levomepromazine.
Other drugs may be taken for only a short time to treat such problems as infections, some kinds of pain, and constipation. Almost 90% of older adults regularly take at least 1 prescription drug, almost 80% regularly take at least 2 prescription drugs, and 36% regularly take at least 5 different prescription drugs.
The most common specific causes of natural deaths in the United States have shifted from the scourges of the early 1900s – tuberculosis, influenza, diarrhea – to modern killers such as heart disease and cancer.
Cardiovascular diseases
These include hypertension (high blood pressure); coronary heart disease (heart attack); cerebrovascular disease (stroke); heart failure; and other heart diseases. Cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death globally.
Overview table. This first table gives a convenient overview of the general categories and broad causes. The leading cause is cardiovascular disease at 31.59% of all deaths.