Middle Age Death Rates Continue to Drop

Over the last quarter-century, death rates for the middle aged have fallen 25% due to significant declines in cancer and heart disease deaths.

Overall, about 0.43% of people aged 45-54 die each year, down from 0.57% in 1981. That may not seem like much, but it means that at the end of ten years about 600,000 more people in that age group are alive. That's 1 out of 70 -- enough of a difference that it impacts you or someone you know.

Although the cancer death rate for 45-54 year olds declined 33% between 1981* and 2004 -- from 178 per 100,000 people to 119 -- cancer is now the leading cause of death for that age group. Most types of cancer showed declines; the largest reduction was in lung and related cancer deaths, which dropped 45% -- from 54 to 30 per 100,000. Overall, cancer accounts for about 28% of deaths in the 45-54 age band.

The reasons for the improvement include better screening and detection, declines in smoking, and more effective treatments (source).

Cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and heart attacks were the leading cause of death in middle age in 1981, but have fallen to #2. They still kill 111 out of 100,000 middle aged people every year, but that's way down from 1981's rate of 207 per 100,000.

The reduction in cardiovascular disease deaths has been due to the decline in smoking, lower blood pressure, more widespread use of hypertension medication, and lower cholesterol levels, perhaps from improved diets (source).

Accidents are the third most common cause of death in middle age. After years of decline -- from 37 / 100,000 in 1981 to 26.5 in 1992 -- accident rates have increased for the last decade, reaching a new high of 40.7 in 2004. The accident rate for men (59 / 100,000) is nearly three times the rate for women (23), and both have been increasing. We've yet to find an explanation for this.

The other 36% of middle aged deaths have a variety of causes.

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* The most recent year for which data are available.

Main source: Death Rates by Age, Sex, Race, and Underlying Cause. United States, 1981-2004 (NMR04a) at the National Center for Health Statistics.

There are about 42 million people in the US aged 45-54 as of 2005 (source).