Early Death Racial Disparity - Ages 65-74 in United States

United States

Based on calculations from 2023, the average 65-year-old in the United States should expect to live another 19.5 years. However, many older adults do not live to see their 75th birthday. The leading causes of death among adults ages 65-74 in the U.S. in 2023 were cancer, heart disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, cerebrovascular causes and diabetes according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. 

Research estimates that 48% of all premature deaths involve behavioral and other preventable causes. Social factors also contribute to mortality risk; a study from 2010 demonstrates strong association between poverty, income inequality, racial segregation and low social support and increased deaths among adults age 65 and older. Social isolation, which affects about a quarter of older adults, also increases the risk of premature death.

According to America’s Health Rankings analysis, Black older adults have the highest early death rate, followed by Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders and American Indian/Alaska Native older adults. Asian and multiracial older adults have the lowest rates. The early death rate is three times higher among Black compared with Asian older adults.

A variety of intervention strategies that encourage healthy lifestyles, physical and social activity and preventive care may reduce early death among older adults.

Interventions that improve the quality and accessibility of social factors such as housing, income, employment and education can potentially improve health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supports programs that target aspects of the social determinants of health, address barriers to accessing care or focus on populations facing health disparities. Examples of these programs include:

• The CDC’s Healthy Tribes Program seeks to improve the health of American Indian/Alaska Native communities. 
• The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program helps increase cancer screening, diagnostic and treatment services among low-income or uninsured people by providing community navigators and partnering with local agencies for outreach.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has also released a framework to promote healthy communities for those covered under Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and the Health Insurance Marketplaces. 

According to Healthy People 2030, promoting healthy choices is not enough to eliminate health disparities. They suggest that public health organizations collaborate with partners in other sectors like education, transportation and housing to improve people's social, economic and physical conditions.

Healthy People 2030 has multiple national overarching goals related to preventing premature death and eliminating health disparities, including:

• Attaining healthy, thriving lives and well-being free of preventable disease, disability, injury and premature death.
• Eliminating health disparities, achieving health equity and attaining health literacy to improve the health and well-being of all.
• Creating social, physical and economic environments that promote attaining the full potential for health and well-being for all.

Galea, Sandro, Melissa Tracy, Katherine J. Hoggatt, Charles DiMaggio, and Adam Karpati. “Estimated Deaths Attributable to Social Factors in the United States.” American Journal of Public Health 101, no. 8 (August 2011): 1456–65. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300086.

Murphy, Sherry L., Kenneth D. Kochanek, Jiaquan Xu, and Elizabeth Arias. “Mortality in the United States, 2023.” NCHS Data Brief No. 521. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, December 19, 2024. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc/170564.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults: Opportunities for the Health Care System. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17226/25663.

Williams, David R., and Selina A. Mohammed. “Racism and Health II: A Needed Research Agenda for Effective Interventions.” The American Behavioral Scientist 57, no. 8 (August 1, 2013). https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764213487341.