title: [Aging and dying--reflections on statistical figures].
abstract: Aging and death of man have changed decisively during the last centuries. Today, three age-dependent mortalities can be distinguished: the mortalities in the early years of life, those caused by external forces, and the rest of mortality. The logarithm of the rest of mortality is, starting with the 20th year of life, relatively strictly correlated to age. Only this age-dependent mortality can be regarded as a "natural" mortality. It is however enabled only by a culturally and technically extremely favorable environment. The slope of the age-dependent mortality is relatively stable geographically and in the course of time, and is nearly equal for both sexes. Of various diseases, their relative mortalities (expressed in percent of total mortality) indicates an age-specific susceptibility for the causes of death, with high percentages either in youth, in midlife or in high age. The mortality of all cancers was relatively stable during the last decades, whereas the specific mortalities of different cancer sites varied to a much higher degree ("vicarious mortality"). Death is programmed relatively rigidly, as far as it is not related to violence (accidents, poisoning, murder). Perhaps the genetical determination is prevailing. The slope of the programmed part of mortality of woman changes in its steepness after the age of 60, with an increasing rate of mortality.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schaefer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D012737:Sex Factors
vernacular_title: Altern und Sterben--Gedanken zu statistischen Zahlen.