How To Live To Be 100

Life expectancy is the average length of time persons, defined by age, sex, ethnic group, and socioeconomic status in a given society, are expected to live. The older population is the most rapidly increasing segment of the U.S. population. Since 1900 the number of older adults has increased over ten times and their percentage of the population has more than tripled. This increase is projected to continue at a rate of 1.3 percent annually until 2010. (Torrez, p.132)

The number of ethnic minority elderly persons will grow much more rapidly than the number of White elderly people over the next 50 years. The percentage of older adults in the United States that is made up of Blacks and other non-White minorities will increase from 10.2 in 1990 to 15.3 in 2020 and 21.3% in 2050. (Fried p.4) In 2005, 9.4 percent of African Americans, 9.3 percent of Asian Americans, and 6.5 percent of Hispanics were older than 65.

The leading causes of death among the elderly are chronic diseases, notably cardiovascular disease and cancer. Other major causes of death include: Chronic respiratory diseases such s emphysema and chronic bronchitis; diseases common among the elderly such as Alzheimer's and renal diseases and infectious diseases and injuries.

There are continuing disparities in the burden of illness and death experienced by African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaska Natives, as compared to the U.S. population as a whole. A statistical review of the disproportionate toll of certain diseases on racial and ethnic populations highlights the need for prevention, treatment and resources toward reducing the loss of life.

The health profiles of many racial and ethnic minorities reflect the social inequality evident in the United States. The poor economic and environmental conditions of groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans are manifested in high morbidity and morality rates for these groups.

The leading causes of death among the elderly are chronic diseases, notably cardiovascular disease and cancer. Other major causes of death include: Chronic respiratory diseases such s emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Diseases common among the elderly such as Alzheimer's and renal diseases and infectious diseases and injuries.

African Americans are the largest populations of color in the United States, only about 8 percent of them are over 65 years of age, compared to 14 percent of the white population. The life expectancy for African American men and women is 64.9 and 74 years, respectively, compared with the life expectancy of 74.1 years for white men and 79.5 years for white women.

The leading chronic diseases causing death among blacks are the same as those for the white population, but the rates among blacks are consistently higher, often much higher. For example, black men die from strokes at almost twice the rate of all men in the total population; they also have higher rates of nonfatal strokes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1991).

Black men also have a higher risk of cancer than other men--25% higher for all cancers and 45% higher for lung cancer. In addition, only 38% of blacks with cancer survive five years after diagnosis, compared to 50% of whites. Diabetes is one-third more prevalent among blacks than among whites, and the complications of diabetes--heart disease, stroke.

African American elders face a wide range of social and political barriers to health care: their lower utilization of health services; reduced access to health care; longer reported delays in obtaining health care due to cost; poorer health status and self-reports of health and higher rates of mortality.

American Indians refer to indigenous people of the United States, including Eskimos and Alaskan Natives. Their life expectancy is 67 years, approximately 8 years less than for the white population. Life expectancy is generally lower in nonreservation areas. American Indians have the poorest health of all Americans, due in part to inadequate housing conditions and the isolation of many of their communities. Their elders have a higher incidence than their white counterparts of diabetes, hypertension, accidents, tuberculosis, heart disease, liver and kidney disease, strokes, pneumonia, influenza, hearing and visual impairments, and problems stemming from obesity, gallbladder, or arthritis. Cancer survival rates are the lowest among all U.S. populations (NIH, 2000). Diabetes has reached nearly epidemic proportions in this population, which places heavy demands on families to help manage elders' diet, exercise and insulin. (Hooyman, p.544)

The majority of American Indian elders rarely see a physician, often because living in isolated areas, lacking transportation, and mis-trusting non-Indian health professionals. Accordingly, the prevailing life circumstances for many elders of poverty, low self-esteem, alcoholism, and substance abuse may interfere with their ability to seek preventative health care. In addition, language remains a barrier.

Sociocultural and political barriers to health care among American Indians encompass the following: they distrust the medical care that is not native; they encounter professionals' lack of sensitivity to ritual folk healing and cultural definitions of disease; they have experienced racism, discrimination, and stereotyping and have been turned away from public clinics; they are unwilling to sit through long waits at non-native clinics.

Latinos are the largest ethnic minority population and the fastest growing group in the United States, due to high rates of fertility and immigration. They are highly diverse and include groups, each with its own distinct national/cultural heritage and their racial designation by majority. The predominant groups are: Mexican American - 49%, Central and South Americans - 24%, Cubans - 15%, Puerto Ricans - 12%. Their life expectancy is 65 years. Their primary health problems in old age include adult-onset diabetes, obesity, and arthritis. Diabetes mortality is higher for Latinos than African Americans, and Latino elders experience more diabetes-related complications, such as blindness and kidney disease, than do whites.

Latino elders were the least likely among all groups of older adults to utilize formal health care services. Latinos who speak primarily Spanish face communication difficulties, which can negatively influence their perceptions of health care providers. Language and trust barriers combined with a greater resilience on home remedies, folk medicine, and religious healing result in patterns of delayed diagnosis, which can negatively affect their health status.

Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic minority group over age 65, due mostly to immigration rates. As with other groups, the oldest-old