Mortality and health in human life spans

This paper clarifies the relationship between mortality and morbidity in older human populations by addressing two questions. Do mortality and morbidity change over time in the same way? Are the age patterns of mortality and morbidity similar at the oldest ages? We find that the mortality and morbidity do not necessarily change in the same way and that the age patterns of mortality and morbidity are not the same. Factors responsible for this include population heterogeneity and selectivity, the underlying causes of mortality and morbidity, and the mechanisms causing change in mortality and morbidity. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.