Trend of non-communicable disease mortality for three common conditions in the elderly population from 2002 to 2010: A population-based study in China

OBJECTIVE There is a lack of data focusing on non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality in the Chinese elderly population over the past decade. METHODS Using mortality data from the Chinese Health Statistics, we explored the crude and age-standardized mortality trend of three major NCDs in the Chinese population ≥65 years of age from 2002 to 2010, namely, malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases. Subpopulations characterized as rural and urban residence, and by gender and age were examined separately. RESULTS Mortality increased with age and was higher among males than among females across the three NCDs, with the gender difference being most remarkable for malignant neoplasms and least for heart diseases mortality. Condition-specific crude mortalities increased between 2002 and 2010, overall and in all the pre-specified subpopulations. After age-standardization, rising trends were observed for people ≥65 years old, and condition-specific mortalities generally increased in rural regions and decreased in urban regions, especially for cerebrovascular diseases. CONCLUSIONS There were increasing trends for mortality due to malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases in China between 2002 and 2010, which were largely driven by the population aging. Disparities existed by rural and urban residence, gender, and age.