How Americans Died in 1900 vs. Today, in One Chart

Notice how there were no records on diabetes and altzheimers then ,but now the account for 8% of deaths...
 
jelloman said:
Notice how there were no records on diabetes and altzheimers then ,but now the account for 8% of deaths...
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I'd imagine that there were a lot of things that either went undiagnosed back then or just weren't that common.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
It's good to see that dysentery wasn't anywhere on the list. Glad we got over that hump in the 1800's.
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Punchy said:
Man, it'd suck to die of frailty.

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I'd guess we might call that natural causes (or old age). It's the way my Grandma died...in her sleep at 97..I'm thinking it might be the best way to go :shrug:
 
Yeah, I think the vast majority of people in the US under the age of 80 have no idea what life in the pre-antibiotic era was like. Sadly, we are heading down that road once again, and with shocking pace.

As for the other causes, people didn't used to live long enough, on average, to see things like many cancers, neurodegenrative disease, and the like. Type I diabetes was a fatal illness in children before insulin extraction from pigs and cows was developed in the 20's. Type II diabetes wasn't really understood until much later.

To me the most alarming difference is the large differences in heart disease. This is probably related to the longer life span today, but I'm sure our sedentary lifestyle of convenience has a lot to do with it as well.

Cancer is also alarming, but less so than heart disease, as diagnostic improvements probably have a lot to do with expansion of the cancer category in modern times, along with longer lifespan (most cancer is a cumulative insult disease), and all the modern trappings of life (exposure to carcinogens, ionizing radiation, etc.).
 
Frailty is a legit medical diagnosis that describes the rapid decline we see in the elderly before they die. I think we all have first hand experience with an old relative who falls, breaks a hip, ends up in the hospital, and then they seem to have progressive loss of kidney function, liver function, etc. and eventually just everything shuts down. That is frailty in a nut shell. There is probably a mutifactorial basis for this kind of thing, including loss of muscle, coordination, situational awareness and such that results in the old people falling or otherwise injuring themselves. This is usually followed by a very low incidence of recovery, with everything pretty much shutting down within weeks to months. Basically, a physiological shutdown of multiple organ systems. I have no idea what it was in 1900, but that is what it is now.
 
I attended a lecture recently by some folks from the Human Performance Lab at Ball State, and learned some interesting things about frailty and fitness. In terms of physical fitness as measured by VO2max and other parameters, there is a fairly clear "frailty threshold." While it's possible to boost your fitness level numbers at almost any age (from 10 to 30 percent), if you dip below the frailty threshold, you're not coming back. Obviously you can't outrun time forever, but there are a lot of folks in their sixties and seventies who flirting dangerously close to that threshold simply because of a sedentary lifestyle. One unlucky illness or injury, and over they go.

Exercise is the cheapest and most beneficial prescription around.
 
The 94 year old lady that my wife is a caregiver for is totally kicking frailty in the ass right now.

When she broke her ankle and had to have surgery last September, we thought for sure she was done.

Tough old bird is still fighting the good fight nine months later.

Pretty amazing.

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Tralfaz said:
I attended a lecture recently by some folks from the Human Performance Lab at Ball State, and learned some interesting things about frailty and fitness. In terms of physical fitness as measured by VO2max and other parameters, there is a fairly clear "frailty threshold." While it's possible to boost your fitness level numbers at almost any age (from 10 to 30 percent), if you dip below the frailty threshold, you're not coming back. Obviously you can't outrun time forever, but there are a lot of folks in their sixties and seventies who flirting dangerously close to that threshold simply because of a sedentary lifestyle. One unlucky illness or injury, and over they go.

Exercise is the cheapest and most beneficial prescription around.
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That's really interesting actually. Any links or stuff I'd quite like to read up on that.

I spoke about my brother and girlfriend in another thread earlier in the week but my brother in law IS morbidly obese and this sort of stuff fascinates me.

It was sports day in the school I work in today and apart from myself, the PE teachers who organised it and another teacher who's an ex cop / cycling fiend, it was sad to see how many of the staff (the kids and their Xbox induced ridiculous lack of fitness is a whole other rant!) were sitting around on their asses and doing the bare minimum of physical activity even though it was nothing too strenuous and it was a great fun day to hang out with the kids.

I came home and battered through a Shaun T workout too :shrug:
 
If you live past the age of 5 in 1910 you would very likely have the same expectations to live into your. 70's.
It is a common belief that cancer and other other deaths are because we are living longer. Not entirely honest as child mortality fell by almost 80% the average life expectancy seemed to grow. Again this is not really the case, it's a statistical myth we want to believe that we are living longer and longer it's become a belief system that justifies a lot of what we do, however if you made it past the age of five in 1905 you had the same life expectancy someone who made it past the age of five today. However in 1905 you did not die of cancer or Alzheimer's even though you would have reached the same age as someone living today
 
Let not forget that there have been great advances in sanitation practices. It is no longer common place to see an outhouse near a creek, or other water source, for instance. Not to mention that garbage doesn't pile up in the street. Be sure and thank your neighborhood garbage collector.
 
Then what's all this talk about engineering ages out to 200 years as common place?

I'm physically fit, exercise everyday despite all the hoopla from every point of the compass from real and self-proclaimed experts saying it isn't necessary. It is necessary to establish a daily routine as ingrained as waking up. It has to be made as mindless as possible. I see ponches on people coming out of high school now. Sedentary is an understatement and discipline towards a healthy lifestyle has become a bad word. Pretty damned shameful of parents and society alike to let their kids exercise premature couch stewardship.
 
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