Subdividing the age group of 85 years and older to improve US disease reporting

The standard terminal age category in disease reporting in the United States has been 85 years and older since the 1940s, but the dramatically increasing share of the US population reaching this age has rendered the single category inadequate for surveillance, research, and analysis. Important agespecific variations in mortality among the oldest old are masked by the continued use of this category. Greater specificity in agespecific data for the oldest old would aid in disease surveillance and etiologic research and broaden awareness and understanding of human longevity.