The Changing Face of Death

Death is one of the few things that are guaranteed to a person

BBCThere are not many things guaranteed to you in life.

According to a popular expression popular in Europe, only death and taxes are inevitable. However, with all the inevitability of death, its causes are constantly changing, and those diseases that are now perceived as a death sentence will not necessarily retain their ominous status in a few years.

A hundred years ago, infectious diseases were the scourge of mankind. By the end of the XIX century, more than a third of all deaths were caused by smallpox, measles, cholera, tuberculosis and diphtheria.

Today, thanks to the development of medicine, as well as to a large extent the spread of vaccination, the number of infectious diseases has significantly decreased. And humanity managed to get rid of smallpox forever.

This fact has had a significant impact on life expectancy. If earlier more than a third of all deaths occurred in people under the age of 60, today one person out of ten under the age of 60 dies.

But in connection with this "aging" of mankind, chronic diseases have come to the fore. Today, half of the deaths are associated with heart disease and cancer.

The "apocalypse" of common infectionsWhat will happen next?

It is very difficult to make accurate forecasts. For example, after the smallpox vaccine was invented, a new threat appeared – the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV.

Today, one of the serious problems is the immunity of the human body to certain types of drugs.

Professor Sally Davis speaks of an "apocalyptic" situation where the cause of death is common infections only because antibiotics are no longer as effective as before.

Another threat could be global warming. If it continues, then the spread of tropical diseases exotic to Europe is possible.

A report published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal says that an increase in the average temperature in the UK may create conditions suitable for the reproduction and life of mosquitoes – the main carriers of diseases in a tropical climate. And then, according to the researchers, all tropical diseases, such as dengue fever and West Nile virus, will spread across Europe in a few decades.

But while all of the above only requires precautions, perhaps the WHO Global Burden of Disease research program (Global Burden of Disease, the main content in Russian – VM) will most accurately inform us about the new danger.

The WHO study has been tracking the causes of death since 1990 and based on this makes a forecast of the causes of death in the future.

Forecast of causes of death in high-income countries by 2030 Cause of death

Perhaps the most noticeable change is due to a sharp jump up in the senile dementia table (from 8th to 3rd place). Increasing life expectancy means that the number of dementia cases is also on the rise.

Years of illnessAll these changes entailed another dilemma: an increase in the duration of the disease.

If infectious diseases took lives very quickly, then chronic diseases entail many years of life with poor health.

Research published by Public Health England (Wellbeing and why it matters to health – VM) shows that, while overall life expectancy has been increasing in the last twenty years, life expectancy in good health is not growing so fast.

Smoking affects people's health most of all, followed by overweight, sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition.

The result of this was that, on average, a fifth of a person's life is spent fighting diseases – such figures are given by the British State Statistics Committee.

So it is quite obvious that if you are subject to bad habits, then you can easily add the inevitability of fighting diseases to the inevitability of death.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru10.04.2015