Can your postcode predict your death?

Living longer: Mahjong enthusiasts (from left) Marjorie Taylor (89), Wendy Sierp (71) and Norma Merrett (77yrs). Pic: Tricia Watkinson Source: News Limited

AUSTRALIANS are living longer than ever with the average life expectancy increasing by two and half years in the past decade.

New data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows Aussies were surviving to a median age of 81.7 in 2012, the highest figure on record.

"Health literacy, access to services and socio-demographic background are all factors in leading a long, healthy life," said Dr Steve Hambleton, President of the Australian Medical Association.

"Nationally, smoking has also decreased to 16 per cent and with it comes the benefit of longer life."

A boy born in Australia today would be expected live to 79.9 years and a girl to 84.3.

"Australia's life expectancy at birth continues to be among the highest in the world," said Bjorn Jarvis, Director of Demography with the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

And Dr Hambleton predicts we will soon see the average life expectancy hit 100, possibly higher.

"The person who will live to 150 has already been born," he said.

"The only obstacle may be obesity. Obesity had been proven to increase cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As long as we take it seriously, our life expectancy will continue to increase."

STATE BY STATE BREAK-DOWN: NSW

In 2012, the median age of death in New South Wales was 82 years.

According to the data, Coolamon, Manly and North Sydney were the best place to live in Australia to reduce the likelihood of death.

These local government areas in New South Wales had the nation's lowest death rate, 3.8 deaths for every 1,000 locals.

Woollahra was the next best area of the state with 4 deaths in every 1,000 followed by Ku-ring-gai with 4.1 deaths in every 1,000.

VICTORIA

The median age of death in Victoria was 82.6 years in 2012.

According to the data, Stonnington was the best place to live in state to reduce the likelihood of death.

This local government area had the lowest death rate, 4.3 deaths for every 1,000 locals.

Boroondara and Manningham were the next best with 4.5 deaths in every 1,000 followed by Monash with 4.6 deaths in every 1,000.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

South Australians were living to a median age of 83 in 2012.

According to the data, Mitcham is the place to live in South Australia to reduce your likelihood of death. In 2012 it was the local government area with the state's lowest death rate, 4.2 deaths for every 1000 locals.

Adelaide Hills ranks second with 4.8 deaths in every 1000 and Burnside and Naracoorte and Lucindale took out third spot with 4.9 deaths in every 1000.

QUEENSLAND

In 2012, the median age of death in Queensland was 80.4 years.

According to the data, Barcaldine and the Sunshine Coast were the best place to live in Queensland to reduce the likelihood of death.

These local government areas had the state's lowest death rate, 5.2 deaths for every 1,000 locals.

Gold Coast was the next best with 5.3 deaths in every 1,000 followed by Brisbane and Redland with 5.5 deaths in every 1,000.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

In 2012, the median age of death in the Northern Territory was 59.8 years, the lowest nationally.

According to the data, Darwin was the best place to live in the territory to reduce the likelihood of death.

This local government area had the lowest death rate, 6.7 deaths for every 1,000 locals.

Katherine had the nation's worst death rate, with 13.6 deaths in every 1,000.

TASMANIA

In 2012, the median age of death in Tasmania was 81.3 years.

According to the data, West Tamar was the best place to live in the state to reduce the likelihood of death.

This local government areas had the lowest death rate, 5.8 deaths for every 1,000 locals.

Kingborough and Latrobe the next best with 5.9 deaths in every 1,000 followed by Kentish and Meander Valley with 6 deaths in every 1,000.

"We provide a standardised death rate to reduce factors such as age on the overall figure," explained Mr Jarvis.

"We then need to ask questions about why some areas are performing better than others."

Members of the Mitcham's Mahjong Group in Adelaide believed the key to living longer was to keep busy and active.

Norma Merrett, 77, of Unley said it was important to get out and about and participate in activities which stimulated the mind, like the Chinese game mahjong.

"I walk every day, I think it's very important to keep active and make your brain think," she said.

Another member of the group, Wendy Sierp, 71, of Kingswood said joining groups also kept her active by creating new friendships.

"It's about eating well and making sure you've got lots of different people in your life so you are stimulated all of the time and exercising as well," she said

After steadily declining over the past several years, there were surprise increases in the number of deaths among younger Australians.

Nationally, deaths among children ages between 1 and 4 increased by 0.5 per cent, 10 to 14 by 6.8 per cent and 15 to 19 by 4.8 per cent.

The increase in deaths among children aged 10 to 14 was higher than the 6.2 per cent increase in deaths among Australians aged between 90 and 94.

"The total number of deaths in these age groups are small, but next year we will be looking to see if there is another increase which may show a change in the trend," said Mr Jarvis.

But the Australian Medical Association will be looking closely at the numbers.

"The biggest cause of deaths for Australians under the age of 18 is accidents," said Dr Hambleton. "We need to make sure we are not exposing our children to danger."

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FDA warns Pfizer's drug Tygacil raises risk of death

n">(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc's antibacterial drug Tygacil increases the risk of death whether used as authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or for unapproved conditions, the agency warned on Friday.

Pfizer must place a warning inside a black box on the drug's label, indicating the risk is of the most serious nature. The FDA said the drug, which is usually given intravenously, should only be used when alternative treatments are not suitable.

The drug is approved to treat complicated skin and abdominal infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. It is not approved to treat diabetic foot infection or hospital-acquired pneumonia.

In September 2010, the FDA issued a reminder to physicians that Tygacil carried a higher risk of death than other drugs used to treat infection. The agency said at the time it had analyzed pooled clinical trial data and determined that most deaths were related to progression of the infection.

The agency said the increased risk of death was mostly seen in patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia though it was also seen in patients with other types of infection. The agency updated the "Warnings and Precautions" section of the label to reflect risks.

Since issuing that 2010 notice, the FDA said it has analyzed data from 10 trials of patients who took the drug only for FDA-approved uses. This analysis also showed a higher risk of death compared to other antibacterial drugs.

In general, the deaths resulted from worsening infections, complications from infection or another underlying medical condition, the agency said.

Tygacil was approved in the United States in 2005. It generated sales in 2012 of $335 million.

Pfizer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The drugmaker's shares were up 42 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $28.94 in midday trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

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Dykema Pro Bono Team Hits Right Note in Death Row Case

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Cobb solicitor agrees to downgraded plea for mom whose jaywalking led to death of son

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Texas Death Row Inmate’s Bid for Resentencing Has Support of Victim, Prosecutor and Ex-Governor

Ms. Taylor survived — the bullet came within one inch of her heart and lodged in her right shoulder. More than 17 years later, a scar the size of a nickel remains on her chest, but her anger has faded: She has forgiven her stepbrother, Duane E. Buck, 49, and has been trying to secure his release from Texas’ death row.

“This is not an easy thing,” said Ms. Taylor, 46, who visited him last month at the prison that houses death row in Livingston, Tex. “It’s very hard. I still have moments. But I know that I’m doing the right thing. The Bible says that I have to forgive, and that’s just my key to my everyday living.”

Ms. Taylor is part of an unusual network of supporters who have been trying to halt Mr. Buck’s execution. His advocates include leaders of the N.A.A.C.P., one of the lawyers who prosecuted him and a former governor of Texas. While many contested death-row cases center on guilt or innocence, Mr. Buck’s case is different — his guilt has never been disputed, but the testimony of a psychologist has raised questions about the role that race played in the jury’s decision to sentence him to die by lethal injection.

Mr. Buck, who is black, was convicted of killing his former girlfriend Debra Gardner and her friend Kenneth Butler at Ms. Gardner’s house the same morning in 1995 when he shot Ms. Taylor. Mr. Buck and Ms. Gardner had ended their relationship a week earlier, and he stormed into the house with a rifle and a shotgun. He shot Mr. Butler and then shot Ms. Gardner as she tried to flee outside, her two children looking on in horror, according to court documents.

At a sentencing hearing in May 1997, Walter Quijano, a former chief psychologist for the state prison system who had evaluated Mr. Buck, testified that race was one of several factors that could be used to predict whether a person would be a future danger to society. “It’s a sad commentary that minorities, Hispanics and black people, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system,” Dr. Quijano said in the courtroom.

Dr. Quijano had been called to the stand by the defense, and ultimately found that the probability that Mr. Buck would commit future acts of violence was low. But under cross-examination, the prosecutor for the Harris County district attorney’s office asked him about the various factors. “You have determined that the sex factor, that a male is more violent than a female because that’s just the way it is, and that the race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons,” the prosecutor asked Dr. Quijano. “Is that correct?”

“Yes,” he replied.

In her closing argument, the prosecutor reminded the jury of the psychologist’s testimony. “You heard from Dr. Quijano, who had a lot of experience in the Texas Department of Corrections, who told you that there was a probability that the man would commit future acts of violence,” she said.

Last week, a statement calling for a new sentencing hearing for Mr. Buck that was signed by Ms. Taylor and dozens of others — including another of the prosecutors who had helped convict him, Linda Geffin — was delivered to the Harris County district attorney, Mike Anderson. It was handed to him by Mark W. White Jr., a governor of Texas in the 1980s.

Mr. White and Mr. Buck’s lawyers said that they believed his death sentence was a product of racial discrimination, and that Dr. Quijano’s testimony — and the prosecutor’s emphasis on that testimony — made the color of Mr. Buck’s skin a factor in the jury’s deliberations, violating his constitutional rights. In addition to their claims of racial bias, they said Texas was failing to follow through on a promise it had made to Mr. Buck.

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