What age do people mostly die at?

Answer 1

60–80 (the years of retirement and early old age), enjoy rich possibilities for a full life, but the condition of frailty distinguished by "bodily failure" and greater dependence becomes increasingly common after that. In the United States, hospital discharge data from 2003 to 2011 shows that injury was the most common reason for hospitalization among patients aged 65+.Gerontologists note the lack of research regarding and the difficulty in defining frailty. However, they add that physicians recognize frailty when they see it.A group of geriatricians proposed a general definition of frailty as "a physical state of increased vulnerability to stressors that results from decreased reserves and disregulation in multiple physiological systems".Frailty is a common condition in later old age but different definitions of frailty produce diverse assessments of prevalence. One study placed the incidence of frailty for ages 65+ at 10.7%. Another study placed the incidence of frailty in age 65+ population at 22% for women and 15% for men. A Canadian study illustrated how frailty increases with age and calculated the prevalence for 65+ as 22.4% and for 85+ as 43.7%.A worldwide study of "patterns of frailty" based on data from 20 nations found (a) a consistent correlation between frailty and age, (b) a higher frequency among women, and (c) more frailty in wealthier nations where greater support and medical care increases longevity.In Norway, a 20-year longitudinal study of 400 people found that bodily failure and greater dependence became prevalent in the 80+ years. The study calls these years the "fourth age" or "old age in the real meaning of the term". Similarly, the "Berlin Aging Study" rated over-all functionality on four levels: good, medium, poor, and very poor. People in their 70s were mostly rated good. In the 80–90 year range, the four levels of functionality were divided equally. By the 90–100 year range, 60% would be considered frail because of very poor functionality and only 5% still possessed good functionality.In the United States, the 85+ age group is the fastest growing, a group that is almost sure to face the "inevitable decrepitude" of survivors. (Frailty and decrepitude are synonyms.) Three unique markers of frailty have been proposed: (a) loss of any notion of invincibility, (b) loss of ability to do things essential to one's care, and (c) loss of possibility for a subsequent life stage.Old age survivors on-average deteriorate from agility in their 65–80s to a period of frailty preceding death. This deterioration is gradual for some and precipitous for others. Frailty is marked by an array of chronic physical and mental problems which means that frailty is not treatable as a specific disease. These problems coupled with increased dependency in the basic activities of daily living (ADLs) required for personal care add emotional problems: depression and anxiety. In sum, frailty has been depicted as a group of "complex issues," distinct but "causally interconnected," that often include "comorbid diseases", progressive weakness, stress, exhaustion, and depression. Johnson and Barer did a pioneering study of Life Beyond 85 Years by interviews over a six-year period. In talking with 85-year-olds and older, they found some popular conceptions about old age to be erroneous. Such erroneous conceptions include (1) people in old age have at least one family member for support, (2) old age well-being requires social activity, and (3) "successful adaptation" to age-related changes demands a continuity of self-concept. In their interviews, Johnson and Barer found that 24% of the 85+ had no face-to-face family relationships; many have outlived their families. Second, that contrary to popular notions, the interviews revealed that the reduced activity and socializing of the over-85s does not harm their well-being; they "welcome increased detachment". Third, rather than a continuity of self-concept, as the interviewees faced new situations they changed their "cognitive and emotional processes" and reconstituted their "self–representation". Frail people require a high level of care. Medical advances have made it possible to "postpone death" for years. This added time costs many frail people "prolonged sickness, dependence, pain, and suffering".According to a study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the rate of emergency department visits was consistently highest among patients ages 85 years and older in 2006–2011 in the United States. Additionally, patients aged 65+ had the highest percentage of hospital stays for adults with multiple chronic conditions but the second highest percentage of hospital costs in 2003–2014.These final years are also costly in economic terms. One out of every four Medicare dollars is spent on the frail in their last year of life . . . in attempts to postpone death.Medical treatments in the final days are not only economically costly, they are often unnecessary, even harmful. Nortin Hadler, M.D. warns against the tendency to medicalize and overtreat the frail. In her Choosing Medical Care in Old Age, Michael R. Gillick M.D. argues that appropriate medical treatment for the frail is not the same as for the robust. The frail are vulnerable to "being tipped over" by any physical stress put on the system such as medical interventions.In addition to everyday care, frail elderly people and others with disabilities are particularly vulnerable during natural disasters. They may be unable or unwilling to evacuate to avoid a hurricane or wildfire. Old age, death, and frailty are linked because approximately half the deaths in old age are preceded by months or years of frailty.Older Adults' Views on Death is based on interviews with 109 people in the 70–90 age range, with a mean age of 80.7. Almost 20% of the people wanted to use whatever treatment that might postpone death. About the same number said that, given a terminal illness, they would choose assisted suicide. Roughly half chose doing nothing except live day by day until death comes naturally without medical or other intervention designed to prolong life. This choice was coupled with a desire to receive palliative care if needed.About half of older adults suffer multimorbidity, that is, they have three or more chronic conditions. Medical advances have made it possible to "postpone death," but in many cases this postponement adds "prolonged sickness, dependence, pain, and suffering," a time that is costly in social, psychological, and economic terms.The longitudinal interviews of 150 age 85+ people summarized in Life Beyond 85 Years found "progressive terminal decline" in the year prior to death: constant fatigue, much sleep, detachment from people, things, and activities, simplified lives. Most of the interviewees did not fear death; some would welcome it. One person said, "Living this long is pure hell." However, nearly everyone feared a long process of dying. Some wanted to die in their sleep; others wanted to die "on their feet".The study of Older Adults' Views on Death found that the more frail people were, the more "pain, suffering, and struggles" they were enduring, the more likely they were to "accept and welcome" death as a release from their misery. Their fear about the process of dying was that it would prolong their distress. Besides being a release from misery, some saw death as a way to reunion with departed loved ones. Others saw death as a way to free their caretakers from the burden of their care. Generally speaking, old people have always been more religious than young people. At the same time, wide cultural variations exist.In the United States, 90% of old age Hispanics view themselves as very, quite, or somewhat religious. The Pew Research Center's study of black and white old people found that 62% of those in ages 65–74 and 70% in ages 75+ asserted that religion was "very important" to them. For all 65+ people, more women (76%) than men (53%) and more blacks (87%) than whites (63%) consider religion "very important" to them. This compares to 54% in the 30–49 age range.In a British 20-year longitudinal study, less than half of the old people surveyed said that religion was "very important" to them, and a quarter said they had become less religious in old age. The late-life rise in religiosity is stronger in Japan than in the United States, but in the Netherlands it is minimal.In the practice of religion, a study of 60+ people found that 25% read The Bible every day and over 40% look at religious TV. Pew Research found that in the age 65+ range, 75% of whites and 87% of blacks pray daily.Participation in organized religion is not a good indicator of religiosity because transportation and health problems often hinder participation. In the industrialized countries, life expectancy and, thus, the old age population have increased consistently over the last decades. In the United States the proportion of people aged 65 or older increased from 4% in 1900 to about 12% in 2000. In 1900, only about 3 million of the nation's citizens were 65 or older (out of 76 million total American citizens). By 2000, the number of senior citizens had increased to about 35 million (of 280 million US citizens). Population experts estimate that more than 50 million Americans—about 17 percent of the population—will be 65 or older in 2020. By 2050, it is projected that at least 400,000 Americans will be 100 or older.The number of old people is growing around the world chiefly because of the post–World War II baby boom and increases in the provision and standards of health care. By 2050, 33% of the developed world's population and almost 20% of the less developed world's population will be over 60 years old.The growing number of people living to their 80s and 90s in the developed world has strained public welfare systems and has also resulted in increased incidence of diseases like cancer and dementia that were rarely seen in premodern times. When the United States Social Security program was created, persons older than 65 numbered only around 5% of the population and the average life expectancy of a 65-year-old in 1936 was approximately 5 years, while in 2011 it could often range from 10 to 20 years. Other issues that can arise from an increasing population are growing demands for health care and an increase in demand for different types of services.Of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds—100,000 per day