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Table 8. Deaths
a
amongArizonaResidents 65Years andOlder byGender andAgeGroup, 2012
CombinedLeadingCauses of Death
Table 9 lists the ten leading combined causes of death amongpersons 65 years and older in
Arizona for 2012 and for theUnitedStates in 2011 (2011 national datawas preliminary and
national data for 2012was not yet available; Hoyert andXu 2012).
Both forArizona in 2012 and for theU.S. for 2011, diseases of the heart, malignant neoplasms,
and chronic lower respiratorydiseaseswere the three leading causes of death. Heart disease and
cancer have consistentlybeen the two leading causes of death in theU.S. since 1935 (Hoyert
2012). Alzheimer?s diseasewas the 4
th
leading cause of death amongArizona?s elderly adults,
whereAlzheimer?s diseasewas ranked as the 5
th
leading cause of death for elderly adults
nationally. Cerebrovascular diseases including strokewere the 5
th
leading cause of death for
olderArizonans in 2012, where this group of diseaseswas ranked 4
th
for older adults nationally
in 2011. Influenza and pneumoniawere the 6
th
leading cause, and diabeteswas the 7
th
leading
cause of death forArizonans age 65 and older in 2012, where the order of rankings for these
disease groupingwere opposite for similarly aged adults nationally. Accidents, nephritis, and
septicemiawere the 8
th
, 9
th
, and 10
th
leading causes of death for bothArizonan elderly in 2012
and national elderly in 2011.
Females
Males
65 ? 74
Years
75 ? 84
Years
85+
Years Total
65 ? 74
Years
75 ? 84
Years
85+
Years Total
Total Deaths
3,662 5,672
8,522 17,856 5,010 6,427
5,664 17,101
OverallMortalityRate
1,286.7
3,582.2
12,409.0
3,490.1
1,971.6
4,761.1
14,237.8
3,987.4
Race andEthnicity
Asian andPacific Islander
48
78
86
212
58
48
39
145
American Indian/AlaskanNative
128
142
138
408
135
140
74
349
Black/AfricanAmerican
121
150
144
415
165
139
65
369
Hispanic/Latino
394
622
681 1,697
531
641
466 1,638
WhiteNon-Hispanic
2971
4680
7473 15,124 4,121 5,459
5,020 14,600
Educational Attainment
NoHighSchool Diploma
618 1,143
1,743 3,504
807 1,208
1,126 3,141
HighSchool Diploma
1,405 2,437
3,789 7,631 1,669 1,984
1,783 5,436
SomeCollege
1,557 1,984
2,845 6,386 2,355 3,094
2,675 8,124
Unknown orMissing
81
108
145
335
178
140
80
400
Marital Status
Married
1,586 1,755
988 4,329 2,959 4,078
2,786 9,823
Widowed
931 2,867
6,681 10,479
415 1,233
2,412 4,060
Divorced
922
856
623 2,401 1,224
846
331 2,401
NeverMarried
193
177
216
586
312
206
120
638
Unknown orMissing
30
17
14
61
98
64
15
179
Location
Urban
2,871 4,565
7,064 14,500 3,761 4,970
4,593 13,324
Rural
789 1,098
1,450 3,337 1,214 1,440
1,066 3,720
Unknown/Other
2
9
8
19
35
17
5
57
Notes:
a
Based on death certificates submitted to theArizonaOffice ofVital Records.
