STATCAST – Week of March 11, 2019

TRANSCRIPT

The so-called “graying of America” presents a range of health challenges for the nation — including a bigger need for quality health data on this population. CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics collects a wide range of data on the health of older Americans, and this week NCHS released two new reports that feature key statistics on this important group.

In the latest quarterly release of data from the National Health Interview Survey, released on March 13, NCHS documents vaccination rates for flu and pneumococcal disease over the first nine months of 2018. The new data shows than nearly 7 in 10 Americans age 65 and older have received a flu or pneumococcal vaccine in the last 12 months.

This important prevention step helps protect older Americans from influenza and pneumonia, one of the leading causes of death in the United States – and the 8th leading cause of death among Americans 65 and older. Nearly 47,000 older Americans died of flu and pneumonia in 2017, according to vital statistics from NCHS.

This week NCHS also released a report on dementia-related mortality in the U.S. since the year 2000. The report shows that in 2017, there were nearly 262,000 dementia-related deaths in the U.S., and nearly 54% of those were not attributed to Alzheimer’s disease.

In comparison, back in 2000, the percentage of dementia-related deaths not attributed to Alzheimer’s disease was less than 41%.

Both NCHS reports can be found on-line at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs.