American Life Expectancy Has Doubled in the Past Century

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed almost 26,000 Americans age 100 and older died in 2014 – a 40 per cent increase over 15 years. Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, said, “There is certainly a wow factor here, that there are this many people in the United States over 100 years old”.

Also, people over 100 include all groups: men and women, whites, blacks, and Hispanics.

Researchers also found that Alzheimer’s disease is the fastest growing cause of death in this population.

By 2050, there could even be one million Americans who are 100 years old or older, according to the National Institute on Aging.

In 2000, the top five causes of death for centenarians were heart disease, stroke, influenza and pneumonia (the two conditions are grouped together), cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

In fact, “the percentage of total deaths from Alzheimer’s disease [for centenarians] increased 124 percent between 2000 and 2014”, he added. “Then in 2000, vaccines grew more: zoster vaccines [for shingles], influenza and the expansion of use of the use influenza vaccines, pneumonia vaccines”, further helped reduce illnesses that take a heavy toll on older Americans, she said While the report seems upbeat on the surface, the research did not determine that the quality of life improved proportionately with the extension of our death rates.

Majority are women, more than 80 percent of those who live a hundred years or more.

Women still comprise about four-fifths of centenarians, the CDC said.

However, by 2014, the death rate for Alzheimer’s had more than doubled and increased from 3.8 percent to 8.5 percent.

Increased access to health care and preventive health services, “so people can prevent diseases such as stroke, diabetes, cancers”, has also boosted lifespans, she said. Prevention of maternal death and child maternal injuries and accidents, too.

According to the CDC, not only are more Americans turning 100, but more centenarians are living longer, as signified by the falling mortality rate among the demographic. Between 2008 and 2014 death rates decreased for all racial and ethnic groups surveyed.

The concept of someone living beyond a 100 years was considered a true miracle.

She also said that certain medical advances, fewer people smoking and certain environmental shifts to promote clean air could have potentially brought the change in the longer number of years of centenarians in US.