# What does the CDC think is "young"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-cdc-think-is-young/534310>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 30, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-cdc-think-is-young/534310 "2010-03-30T06:12:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-cdc-think-is-young/534310/1 "2010-03-30T06:12:42Z")

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A part of [this article](http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/29/cdc.flu/index.html?hpt=C1) (stay strong, Georgians, BTW) caught my eye:

> [@](#):
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> While 12,000 H1N1 deaths is a lower than the average 36,000 deaths seen from seasonal flu annually, 90 percent of the H1N1 deaths occurred in **people under age 65**. “That’s many more deaths in a particular year **among young people** than we usually see with seasonal flu,” Schuchat said.

Does this mean that the CDC considers 60 year olds “young people”?? Or does it mean that people under age X make up a majority (or plurality) of those deaths? If so, what is X, and why don’t they just say THAT in the article instead of implying that 58 year olds are “young people”? (Not that they’d MIND being called that, mind you, but it was very weird to read that paragraph nonetheless.)

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-cdc-think-is-young/534310/2 "2010-03-30T06:52:11Z")

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I’m 64, and yes, 60 is young.

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**Author:** ![Zygoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ee7513/32.png) [@Zygoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zygoma)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-cdc-think-is-young/534310/3 "2010-03-30T10:13:17Z")

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From a medical perspective, 65 and over is the defined boundary for old age. I suppose viewing that from another perspective, anyone under 65 qualifies as young.

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-cdc-think-is-young/534310/4 "2010-03-30T10:26:11Z")

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Plus in terms of who usually dies from the flu, they are “young people.”