Death rates specific for age and sex from the cardiovascular-renal diseases, ulcer of the stomach or duodenum, diabetes mellitus, and hernia and intestinal obstruction among white men and women 25-84 years of age are presented. The objective of the presentation is to compare among these chronic diseases the patterns of change in the mortality by age and sex between two six-year periods, 1921-1926 and 1942-1947. A similarity between the pattern of trends for the various age-sex groups in ulcer death rates and in cardiovascular-renal death rates is noted. The particular similarity to which attention is directed is the sharp contrast between white men and white women in the age group, 35-74 years, in the trend of mortality from both these causes. This contrast is not seen in the mortality from the other 2 causes. The implications of this similarity are discussed.