A death is not necessarily attributable to a single cause. According to the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), people die of an average of 2.4 different causes. To arrive at this figure, INED analyzed the death certificates completed by French general practitioners in 2011. A quarter of the certificates mentioned only one cause and, conversely, another quarter had at least four. . The record for the year studied reached 20 different causes for the same person. The study is published in the journal Population and Societiesof June, scientific information bulletin from INED.
The older we get, the more numerous the causes of death
INED experts were able to observe a correlation between the age of the deceased (up to 80) and the number of causes. Thus, between 65 and 79 years old, 24% of the certificates mention at least four causes, against only 14% for those under 35 years old. “This increase reflects the greater complexity of the pathological pictures of the oldest people with, in particular, comorbidities – the simultaneous presence of several diseases” emphasize the authors of this study. Before the age of 50, the number of certificates reporting an unknown or ill-defined cause is higher. Indeed, at these ages, “deaths are more often due to an external cause (accident, suicidehomicide, etc.)“explains INED.
Lower death rates
But why identify the causes of death and the precise sequence of causes when there are several? For “better understand changes in mortality, whether sudden changes or long-term trends“, points out the INED. It is therefore important that doctors note all the causes on the certificates, and not only the so-called initial cause. This could indeed contribute to underestimating the contribution of certain diseases to mortality. Such studies therefore make it possible to identify priority targets for public health policies and, in the longer term, to reduce death rates.
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