Death in people aged 75 years and older in England in 2017
Every year, about half a million people die in England, with two-thirds of those aged 75 and older. Because life expectancy has increased in the last 25 years and is expected to continue to rise, the number of people dying in this age group is increasing at a rapid rate.
1. Main findings
In England, dementia was a contributing or underlying cause in a quarter of deaths in 2017. The proportion of deaths caused by cancer or liver disease has increased since 2007. People from more deprived areas died at younger ages and were more likely to die in hospital.
2. Population and deaths amongst people aged 75 years and older in England
In 2017, there were 4.5 million people aged 75 and older in England, accounting for 8.2% of the population; by 2027, the total number of people in this age group in England is expected to rise to 6.1 million. In 2017, there were 498,882 deaths in England among people of all ages.
3. Causes of death amongst people aged 75 years and older in England
The leading causes of death among people aged 75 and older are shown in the table below. The cause of death is an important factor in determining where an individual dies and how they are cared for after death.
Table 1: Leading causes of death amongst people aged 75 years and older in England in 2017 and 2007
Cancer, chronic heart disease, stroke, and liver disease were recorded as ‘other’ causes of death, so some deaths may fall into more than one category. Women, across all age groups, had a higher proportion of deaths in which dementia was an underlying or contributing factor.
Figure 2: Percentage of deaths from leading causes of death amongst people aged 75 years and older in 2017, by age and sex
Deaths from dementia and COPD were recorded if they were an underlying or contributing cause of death, and are denoted by dashed lines, so some deaths may fall into more than one category.
4. Factors affecting place of death for people aged 75 years and older in England in 2017
Place of death is the final resting place of people who die in England, and it is influenced by factors such as sex, type of illness, and marital status. In 2017, 341,620 people aged 75 and over died in England’s hospitals.
Table 2: Proportion of deaths by place of death for people aged 75 years and older in England in 2017
Since 2007, the proportion of deaths in hospitals has decreased, while deaths at home and in care homes have increased. Females were more likely than males to die in locations other than those listed here (elsewhere), with a slightly higher proportion of males dying in hospices.
Figure 3: Place of death for people aged 75 years and older by age and sex
Hospices were more common for people whose underlying cause of death was cancer or liver disease, and cancer was the leading cause of death in care homes for over two-thirds of deaths in hospices.
Figure 4: Deaths in people aged 75 years and older by place of death and cause of death
Deaths from cancer, chronic heart disease, stroke, and liver disease were recorded, as were deaths from dementia and COPD if they were an underlying or contributory cause of death. Place of death differed by marital status among people aged 75 and over. Figure below shows the differences in place of death for different sexes and age groups.
5. Inequalities in cause and place of death in England in 2017
The Income Deprivation Affecting Older People Index (IDAOPI) was used to categorize people aged 75 and older who died in 2017 into deprivation quintiles, with the most deprived quintile seeing a 2 percentage point decrease in deaths compared to 2007, while the least deprived quintile saw an increase.
Table 3: Total number and proportion of deaths amongst people aged 75 years and older in each deprivation quintile in England in 2017
The proportion of people who died of the most common causes of death among people aged 75 and older varied by deprivation quintile: deaths from liver disease and deaths where COPD was a contributing cause were more common in more deprived quintiles, while deaths from causes other than the six investigated here were more common in less deprived quintiles.
Figure 6: Proportion of deaths by age and cause amongst people 75 years of age and older in each deprivation quintile in England in 2017
Deaths from dementia and COPD were recorded if they were an underlying or contributing cause of death, so some deaths may appear in more than one category. Deaths from ‘other’ causes were defined as deaths with no underlying cause listed, such as cancer, chronic heart disease, stroke, or liver disease.
6. Other resources
PHE’s Atlas of Variation for Palliative and End-of-Life Care, which is available as a report or as an interactive Instant Atlas via PHE Fingertips and NHS Rightcare, allows users to explore local variations in death and end-of-life care.
What percentage of death is caused by old age?
Nearly half of those who died in 2017 were aged 70 or older, 27% were aged 50-69, 14% were aged 15-49, only 1% were aged 5-14, and around 10% were children under the age of 5. The chart below shows a breakdown of global deaths by cause, ordered from highest to lowest.
In which age group is cancer the most common cause of death?
Mortality rates are significantly higher in females than males in the 30-49 age groups and significantly lower in females than males in the older age groups, with the highest rates in the 90 age group for both females and males.
What time of day do most elderly die?
And, if you’re a human, you’re more likely to die in the late morning — specifically, around 11 a.m. — than at any other time of the day.
What’s the most common age to die?
However, complete population-level mortality data from 2008 to 2010 revealed relatively similar estimates: the median age at death is 81 years, and the most common age at death is 85 years.
What is the most common cause of death in elderly?
Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease account for roughly three-quarters of all deaths in people aged 65 and up, with chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease replacing acute infections as the leading causes of death during the twentieth century.
What is the most common cause of death by injury in older adults?
Every second of every day, an older adult in the United States falls, making falls the leading cause of injury and death among the elderly.
What is the leading cause of death in nursing homes?
Conclusion: Alzheimer’s disease was the single most common cause of death in nursing homes, with the majority of residents dying appropriately on hospice care, in contrast to the general population, where the most common causes of death are cardiac, pulmonary, renal, malignancies, infections, and accidents.
What is the fastest killing cancer?
Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose early, and once it is, patients must be treated as soon as possible because it is the cancer that kills people the fastest.
What are the worst cancers?
The Top 5 Most Deadly Cancers
- Prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer are all cancers that affect men.
Who died of cancer 2020?
Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 (1). The most common types of cancer in 2020 (in terms of new cases) were breast (2.26 million cases), lung (2.21 million cases), and prostate (2.21 million cases).
What is the last organ to shut down when you die?
The brain and nerve cells require a constant supply of oxygen and will die within minutes if you stop breathing; the heart will follow, followed by the liver, then the kidneys and pancreas, which can last for up to an hour.
What are the 7 stages of dying?
u201cThe greatest loss in life is not death; it is what dies inside us while we are alive.u201d However, the grieving process is divided into seven stages: shock and disbelief, denial, pain, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance/hope.
Can you smell death coming?
The brain is the first organ to begin to decompose, followed by other organs. Living bacteria in the body, particularly in the bowels, play a major role in this decomposition process, or putrefaction, which produces a strong odor. u201cYou can smell death in the room even within a half hour,u201d he says.