QuickStats: Death Rates* For Persons Aged ≥65 Years, with Diabetes as the Underlying or a Contributing Cause, by Race and Sex --- United States, 1981--2007

* Rates are age-adjusted per 100,000 U.S. standard population aged ≥65 years. Cause of death is based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code 250 (Diabetes mellitus) for 1981--1998 and International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes E10--E14 (Diabetes mellitus) for 1999--2007.

Diabetes is a leading cause of death in the United States and a contributing cause of deaths from many other conditions. In 2007, diabetes was a contributing cause of death 2.4 times as often as it was the underlying cause of death for persons aged ≥65 years. Age-adjusted death rates for deaths with diabetes declined for white and black persons aged ≥65 years from 2005 to 2007, after generally increasing from 1981 to 2002. In 2007, the rate was higher for black men and women than for white men and women.

Sources: 

CDC. National Vital Statistics System. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss.htm.

CDC. Health Data Interactive. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hdi.htm.

 

QuickStats: Death Rates* for Five Leading Types of Cancer† --- United States, 1999--2007

The figure above shows the death rates for five leading types of cancer in the United States from 1999-2007. Age-adjusted death rates for lung, prostate, breast, and colon cancer declined during 1999-2007. The rate decreased by 9.6% for lung cancer, 23.9% for prostate cancer, 15.2% for breast cancer, and 19.6% for colon cancer. The death rate for pancreatic cancer did not change significantly during this period.
 
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Estimates of Deaths Associated with Seasonal Influenza --- United States, 1976--2007

Influenza infections are associated with thousands of deaths every year in the United States, with the majority of deaths from seasonal influenza occurring among adults aged ≥65 years (1--4). For several decades, CDC has made annual estimates of influenza-associated deaths, which have been used in influenza research and to develop influenza control and prevention policy. To update previously published estimates of the numbers and rates of influenza-associated deaths during 1976--2003 by adding four influenza seasons through 2006--07, CDC used statistical models with data from death certificate reports. National mortality data for two categories of underlying cause of death codes, pneumonia and influenza causes and respiratory and circulatory causes, were used in regression models to estimate lower and upper bounds for the number of influenza-associated deaths. Estimates by seasonal influenza virus type and subtype were examined to determine any association between virus type and subtype and the number of deaths in a season. This report summarizes the results of these analyses, which found that, during 1976--2007, estimates of annual influenza-associated deaths from respiratory and circulatory causes (including pneumonia and influenza causes) ranged from 3,349 in 1986--87 to 48,614 in 2003--04. The annual rate of influenza-associated death in the United States overall during this period ranged from 1.4 to 16.7 deaths per 100,000 persons. The findings also indicated the wide variation in the estimated number of deaths from season to season was closely related to the particular influenza virus types and subtypes in circulation.

The current study extends estimates of influenza-associated deaths from two previous CDC studies (2,3) by adding data from four more influenza seasons for a total of 31 influenza seasons (1976--2007). Estimates are provided for three age groups (<19>1) and can be considered a lower bound for deaths associated with influenza (2,4). However, a diagnosis of influenza virus infection often is not confirmed with sensitive and specific laboratory diagnostics, particularly among older persons, and even when identified is rarely recorded on death certificates (5). Many deaths associated with influenza infections occur from secondary infections such as bacterial pneumonia or complications of chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6). Therefore, estimates using underlying respiratory and circulatory mortality data (which include pneumonia and influenza causes) can provide an upper bound for influenza-associated deaths (2,7).
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Maybe Grief Isn’t So Bad After All - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com

By Paula Span

What do we know, or think we know, about the way we respond when a loved one dies?

We pass with the dying through the Kübler-Ross stages — denial, anger and so forth. We realize that people who seem happy or even crack jokes after a terrible loss are faking it and that we will pay a psychological price for not dutifully attending to our own “grief work.” We seek therapy or grief counseling, and if we would rather not, we berate ourselves for living in a harmful state of denial.

But scientists have studied the reactions of thousands of people to loss in the decades since Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, who worked with terminally ill patients, postulated her theories about moving from one distinct, predictable phase of grief to the next. One of the most prominent bereavement researchers — George A. Bonanno, a clinical psychologist who is chairman of the counseling and clinical psychology department at Teachers College at Columbia University — has just published an intriguing and reassuring exploration of what they had learned. Among the findings is that all the widespread assumptions about mourning I just mentioned are fallacious.
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Post-Traumatic Stress May Raise Death Risks - Forbes.com

(HealthDay News) -- Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder face an increased risk for dying after surgery, even if the surgery is performed years after they have completed their service, according to a U.S. study.

Researchers analyzed data on 1,792 male veterans who had major non-cardiac, non-emergency surgeries between 1998 and 2008. Of that group, 129 (7.8 percent) had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) before their surgery.

Men with PTSD were an average of seven years younger than those without PTSD -- 59 versus 66 years old -- but were much more likely to have cardiac risk factors, the study noted.
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Families Need to Know When Dementia Becomes Terminal - Forbes.com

(HealthDay News) -- Many people see end-stage dementia as affecting only the mind, but a new study shows that the disease's effects are far-reaching and eventually fatal.

The misconception by family members that end-stage dementia is not a terminal condition can have negative consequences for the patient, the researchers say. That's because concerned loved ones often order aggressive, sometimes burdensome interventions such as feeding tubes that will not improve patient outcomes.

"Dementia is a leading cause of death in the U.S., and yet surprisingly little is known about how these patients die," noted the study's lead author, Dr. Susan Mitchell.
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Severe, Lasting Depression Tied to Heart Patient Deaths - Forbes.com

(HealthDay News) -- Certain depressed patients who suffer from heart disease have nearly double the risk of dying over a seven-year period compared with other depressed patients, researchers say.

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Arkansas coroner sees ‘deterrent effect’ at nursing homes

By DEAN OLSEN, THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER, Posted Dec 07, 2008 A 1999 state law that requires all Arkansas nursing homes to notify the local coroner whenever a resident dies has reduced the number of bedsores and accidental deaths in the facilities, according to the coroner in Arkansas’ largest county.

The Odds It Will Kill You? See New Charts

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR Published: September 2, 2008, New York Times New risk charts provide a broader perspective on the risks associated with 10 different causes of death. Charts

Lilly, Amylin Disclose More Cases of Byetta-Related Pancreatitis

Posted by Shirley S. Wang in WSJ Health blog Last week, the FDA said it had received reports of six new cases of pancreatitis – including two deaths – associated with the diabetes drug Byetta. Today, Amylin and Eli Lilly said that they had reported four additional deaths to the agency as well, which the FDA hasn’t yet made public.

"Macaca" moments in health care

By Bob Wachter in the Health Care Blog August 11th was the 2nd anniversary of the epic implosion of George Allen's presidential campaign, the first defeat at the hands of YouTube. Two recent videos of unattended patients dying in ER waiting rooms leave me wondering whether health care has also entered the YouTube era. Remember the George Allen fiasco? A 20-year-old Indian-American named S.R. Sidarth, working for Allen’s opponent Jim Webb, was filming an Allen campaign stop in Breaks, Virginia. Twice, Allen pointed to him and called him “Macaca,” a racial slur meaning “monkey.” Once the video hit YouTube, it went completely viral (this clip, one of many, has been viewed 350,000 times) and Allen’s promising political career was toast. What does this have to do with health care? In the past 18 months, two powerful, highly troubling videos have surfaced of patients being left to die in ER waiting rooms. system, but got nowhere.

For Safer Painkiller Prescribing, FDA Looks for Leverage

Posted by Jacob Goldstein in the Wall Street Journal Health Blog Prescription drugs account for a growing percentage of narcotic-related deaths, and the FDA is trying to figure out what to do about it.

Reductions in Smoking Show Promise for Reducing Home Fire Deaths

Home fire deaths are higher in states that have a greater percentage of smokers, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published this month in the journal Injury Prevention. If smoking at home is reduced or stopped, fewer residential fire deaths may result, the study said. Study includes state by state data. For more information about CDC′s injury prevention efforts, please link to http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/fire.htm. For a copy of this study, please link to Injury Prevention′s website at: http://press.psprings.co.uk/ip/august/228_ip17004.pdf