Is old age the #1 cause of death? Is there a list of "causes of death" in order of frequency or odds?

Question

I understand that old age really means overall system failure caused by one organ/system that causes a chain reaction.

Answer 1

I would say:

Diabetes
Heart complications
Breast cancer

Answer 2

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

Yes. The Centers for Disease Control keep track of the leading causes of death in the U.S. People die in their old age mostly of heart attacks but also from pneumonia. Their hearts are older and more fraile as well as their immune systems.

Factoid: The faster the heartbeat the shorter the life span. The heartbeat of small animals like gerbils beat very fast all the time. They only live about 2 years on average.

Heart disease: 654,092

Cancer: 550,270

Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 150,147

Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 123,884

Accidents (unintentional injuries): 108,694

Diabetes: 72,815

Alzheimer's disease: 65,829

Influenza/Pneumonia: 61,472

Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 42,762

Septicemia: 33,464

Answer 3

These are American Statistics:

(1) Diseases of the heart heart attack (mainly) 28.5%
(2) Malignant neoplasms cancer 22.8%
(3) Cerebrovascular disease stroke 6.7%
(4) Chronic lower respiratory disease emphysema, chronic bronchitis 5.1%
(5) Unintentional injuries accidents 4.4%
(6) Diabetes mellitus diabetes 3.0%
(7) Influenza and pneumonia flu & pneumonia 2.7%
(8) Alzheimer's Disease Alzheimer's senility 2.4%
(9) Nephritis and Nephrosis kidney disease 1.7%
(10) Septicemia systemic infection 1.4%
(11) Intentional self-harm suicide 1.3%
(12) Chronic Liver/Cirrhosis liver disease 1.1%
(13) Essential Hypertension high blood pressure 0.8%
(14) Assault homicide 0.7%
(15) All other causes other 17.4%

Answer 4

Heart disease is #1 for women, then #2 is breast cancer.

http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/announcements/american_heart_month.htm

Answer 5

you need to look up: "leading causes of mortality" and/or "morbidity rate".