If anyone could credibly stand as an example of dying from old age , it would be Jeanne Calment . In 1997 , Calmentpassedat the age of 122 years , cook her the one-time human being with a documented paper trail of her lifespan .
Though the drive of herdeathwasn’t specify , it almost certainly was n’t from but being elderly . While many deaths are said to be “ of old age , ” the term mostly come to a hand wave over the real crusade of death . It ’s not old long time that kills : It ’s the ill that come with it .
“ There are always other pre - existing disease , or new diseases , that cause the deaths in question , ” Dr. Elizabeth Dzeng , an adjunct professor of medicine at University of California , San Francisco , toldGizmodo in 2020 . “ ’ Old age ’ is n’t something you ’d put on a death certificate — most likely , it would be something like cardiac arrest , which occur due to some underlying yield such as an infection , heart attack , or cancer . ”
disease that might come along more patently in younger hoi polloi might show up more insidiously in older universe , Dzeng add . “ With pneumonia , for example , they may not show the normal signs of infection — they may rather present with high bloodline sugar , if they ’re diabetic , or if they have dementia , they may just deliver with alteration in their genial status : heightened confusion , an unfitness to do the thing they would ordinarily do . When we ’re old , and that sort of matter happens , we may not trap it on the underlying disease process . ”
“ Old years ” was more useful some decades back , when medical professions had less noesis and fewer diagnostic tools at their garbage disposal to arrive at a conclusive diagnosing . Yet dying “ from old years ” has remained a dogged summary . For years , the World Health Organization ( WHO)included“old age ” as a crusade of death in their International Classification of Diseases ( ICD ) data manual of arms . The term was n’t retired in the ICD until 2022 , when WHO substituted it with “ aging - associated biological decline in intrinsic content . ”
Not all cultures unsure from swear onold ageas a catch - all condition . In Japan , rōsui , or decay associated with old years , was the third leading causa of demise in 2021 . “ We would say these days , ‘ She had all sorts of conditions but since she was old , rent ’s say she died of older old age , ’ ” gerontologist Akihisa Iguchi toldThe Wall Street Journalin 2022 . One Japanese medico told the outlet he listsrōsuion half the decease certificates he signs each twelvemonth .
It ’s more precise to commonwealth someone diedatan advanced age rather thanofan advance eld , though perhaps some family may prefer the vague condition when there ’s small sense in pinpointing the exact cause . It ’s also a way to ward off the often - disconsolate realty of what actually defeats us , from affection disease to pneumonia . WhenQueen Elizabeth IIpassed in 2022 , the cause given was “ old eld . ” Her actual suit of death has never been publicly break .
