ArticleAge and ageing2026
Overall and cause-specific mortality and associated risk factors among middle-aged and older South Africans: findings from the health and ageing in Africa: a longitudinal study of an INDEPTH community in rural South Africa (HAALSI).
Article in Age and ageing, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAssessing mortality levels, causes of death and associated risk factors is critical for strengthening health systems and guiding targeted health interventions. We examined overall and cause-specific mortality and their associated risk factors among middle-aged and older adults in a rural, rapidly transitioning South African setting.
methodsData were drawn from the Health and Ageing in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community (HAALSI) cohort. Risk factors for mortality from 2014/2015 to 2021 were analysed using Cox-Proportional Hazards and Fine and Gray competing-risk models.
resultsThe 5059 adults aged 40 years and older at enrolment in the HAALSI cohort in 2014/2015 experienced 1116 (22.1%) deaths over 28 955 person-years of follow-up by 2021. Overall, mortality was higher in men (48.3 deaths per 1000 person-years) than women (30.7 deaths per 1000 person-years). Risk of death increased with age and was significantly associated with male sex, lower education, history of smoking or alcohol use, poor self-rated health, underweight, limitations in activities of daily living, slower walk speed, lower grip strength and histories of hypertension, diabetes, stroke, tuberculosis and unsuppressed Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. Cardiovascular diseases were the leading causes of death (30.3%) in both men (25.9%) and women (35.8%), followed by other infectious diseases (23.8%), neoplasms (14.4%), HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (10.1%).
conclusionThese findings highlight the dual mortality burden from non-communicable and infectious diseases among older adults in rural South Africa. Integrated interventions targeting non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases and physical function are urgently needed to reduce premature mortality and improve health outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.