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Figure 10 depicts the combined causemortality rates and 95 percent confidence intervals for
Arizona?s older adults in 2012 and comparably aged adults nationally in 2011. As indicated by
the asterisks, a number ofmortality rates forArizona?s older adults in 2012were significantly
different than national estimates taken from 2011 data. Mortality rates for diseases of the heart,
malignant neoplasms (cancer), cerebrovascular disease (stroke), nephritis (kidneydisease), and
septicemia (blood infection)were all significantly lower amongArizona?s older adults in 2012
than theywere amongolder adults nationally in 2011. Only themortality rates forAlzheimer?s
disease and influenza and pneumoniawere higher amongArizona?s older adults in 2012 than for
comparably-aged adults nationally in 2011.
SpecificLeadingCauses of Death
This section presents the ten leading causes of death forArizona residents 65 years and older in
2012 bygender. As previouslymentioned, leading causes of death among residents 65 years and
older are generally consistent with national data.
Table 10 presents the ten specific leading causes of death for all Arizona residents 65 years and
older in 2012 by age group.When comparing the specific leading causes of death to the grouped
leading causes of death amongArizonans age 65 and older in 2012, there is a number of
interesting findings. First, a number of specific causes of death that are components of the
grouped leading causes of death are indicated, including atherosclerotic heart disease, acute
myocardial infarction, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (diseases of the heart), and both
malignant neoplasms of the bronchus and lung and of the pancreas (malignant neoplasms).
Second, dementia is identified as the 5
th
leading cause of death amongArizona?s elderly in 2012,
but this classification is not included in the grouped leading causes of death originally identified
by theNational Center forHealthStatistics (Hoyert andXu 2012). Finally, other ill-defined and
unspecified causes ofmortality are identified as the 9
th
specific leading cause of death among
Arizona?s older adults in 2012, but this classification is notmentioned in theNCHS-defined
grouped leading causes.
Focusingon the specific leading causes of death amongArizona?s elderly in 2012, themortality
rates for each specific cause are strikinglyhigher forArizona?s older adults (age 85 and older).
For example, themorality rate for atherosclerotic heart disease ismore than 13 times higher for
Arizonans age 85 and older than forArizonans age 65-74. Another example is forAlzheimer?s
disease and dementia, withmortality rates almost 55 and 59 times higher amongArizonans age
85 and over than for those age 65 ? 74, respectively. The large discrepancies between age groups
inmortality rates for these causes of death indicate the rapidly increasing toll that select chronic
diseases take on adults among the oldest old.
