Age Patterns of Disease Incidences in the U.S. Elderly: Population-Based Analysis*

Age patterns of incidence of major age-associated diseases (cancer, diabetes, cardioand cerebrovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases) are calculated in the U.S. elderly population (aged 66-107) using ICD-9 diagnosis reported in Medicare records linked to 1982 to 1999 NLTCS survey respondents. Detailed sensitivity analysis, including effects of latent censoring, incorrect age reporting, and other procedural uncertainties showed their stability. Found agreement between the U.S. age-specific incidence rates estimated from the linked NLTCS-Medicare files and results from other epidemiological datasets suggests the utility of Medicare administrative records for characterizing national disease incidence rates — data not available for many diseases from other sources.