What kills our old folk?

What's killing our senior citizens?

A new report points to cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke, and diabetes as being the leading killers of people older than 60.

According to a survey on morbidity and mortality among the elderly released by Statistics SA in Pretoria yesterday, more women than men died in 2013 - 97474 against 82658.

The number of deaths among people over the age of 60 has increased in the past 16 years. There were 180289 deaths in 2013 compared to 122139 in 1997.

Non-communicable diseases accounted for the majority of these deaths in 2013, with cerebrovascular diseases - often caused by hypertension (high blood pressure) or cholesterol - at No1. Diabetes is the second-leading cause of death, followed by heart diseases and other diseases related to hypertension.

The survey reveals that hypertension was higher among coloured people, diabetes higher among Indians and arthritis higher among the black population group. Heart attacks were more common among the white population.

The highest proportions of older people on medication were on drugs for hypertension and diabetes.

According to the survey, more than 70% of 4146911 people over the age 60 in 2013 relied on state health services.

The survey reveals huge disparities among elderly people with medical aid by population group.

Elderly people in the white population group made up the majority of those with private insurance coverage at 78%, followed by Indians at 35.8% and coloureds at 15.9%. Only 5.5% of the black population had medical aid.

There are also more elderly white people, full stop. This group represents 20.5% of all South Africans over the age of 60.

The Western Cape had the highest proportion of elderly people with medical aid at 41.8%, followed by Gauteng at 41%. The lowest proportions were in Limpopo (5.5%) and Eastern Cape at (13%).