Cancer Now the Leading Killer of Middle-Aged, Studies Show

Cancer has overtaken heart disease as the leading killer of middle-aged Americans, researchers reported Tuesday.

They reported also that the overall death rate among Americans fell 35.6% between 1950 and 1986.

“It is evident that the patterns of . . . mortality in the United States are changing,” the Southern Illinois School of Medicine researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

The studies analyzed death rate data from the National Center for Health Statistics from 1950 through 1986 in relation to six illnesses that are or have been the most frequent causes of death.

The drop in the overall death rate was due to fewer deaths from important killers such as injuries, childbirth complications, flu and pneumonia, the researchers said.

For those 35 to 64, cancer has “now overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death,” the researchers said.

Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death among people 65 and older and accounts for nearly half of all deaths among those 85 and older, the researchers said.

“Almost 20% of our population dies after age 85, and, if present trends continue, within the next 10 or 20 years almost half of all deaths will occur after age 80,” they said.