2016.12（2）Passage2

Inrecent years, the death rate among American centenarians--- people who havelived to age 100 or older---has decreased, dropping 14 percent for women and 20percent for men from 2008 to 2014. The leading causes of death in this agegroup are also changing.

In2000, the top five causes of death for centenarians were heart disease, stroke,flu, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. But by 2014, the death rate fromAlzheimer's disease for this age group had more than doubled--- increasing from3.8 percent to 8.5 percent--- making the progressive brain disease the secondleading cause of death for centenarians.

Onereason for the rise in deaths from Alzheimer's disease in this group may bethat developing this condition remains possible even after people beat the oddsof dying from other diseases such as cancer. People who are physically fitenough to survive over 100 years ultimately give in to diseases, such asAlzheimer's, which effects the mind and cognitive function.

Inother words, it appears their minds give out before their bodies do. On theother hand, the death rate from flu dropped from 7.4 percent in 2000 to 4.1percent in 2014. That pushed flu from the third leading cause of death to thefifth. Overall, the total number of centenarians is going up. In 2014, therewere 72,197 centenarians, compared to 50,281 in 2000. But because thispopulation is getting larger, the number of deaths in this group is alsoincreasing--- 18,434 centenarians died in 2000, whereas 25,914 died in 2014.