University of Southern California
Americans are living longer but in poorer health, according to a new study.
The USC-led study examined life expectancy trends and disability
rates in a 40-year period, from 1970 to 2010.
The analysis of U.S. vital statistics found that the average total lifespan increased for men and women in those 40 years, but so did the proportion of time spent living with a disability.
The analysis of U.S. vital statistics found that the average total lifespan increased for men and women in those 40 years, but so did the proportion of time spent living with a disability.
The study found increased longevity is not necessarily
indicative of good health. Most age groups live longer with a disability or
other health problem.
"We could be increasing the length of poor quality life more than good-quality life," lead author Eileen Crimmins, USC University Professor and AARP Professor of Gerontology at the USC Davis School of Gerontology.
"There are a number of indications that the Baby Boomer
generation that is now reaching old age is not seeing improvements in health
similar to the older groups that went before them." Only for people aged
65 and older was there a "compression of morbidity" -- a reduction in
the proportion of years spent with disability.
The findings have significant implications for policymaking,
such as proposals to raise the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare
eligibility.
"Clearly, there is a need to maintain health and reduce
disability at younger ages to have meaningful compression of morbidity across
the age range," Crimmins said. "The trends for the last 40 years do
not support projections and policies that are based on assumptions of a reduced
length of disabled life."
Findings
The average lifespan for men increased by 9.2 years to 76.2
years, the researchers found. The number of years they live with a disability
increased by 4.7 years while the number of years spent disability-free
increased by 4.5 years.
For women, the average lifespan increased by 6.4 years to 81
years. The number of years that women spend with a disability increased by 3.6
years, exceeding the increase in women's disability-free life (2.7 years).
"The smaller increase in healthy life than in total life
for women was surprising and another indication that American women have not
done as well as American men in terms of improving health in recent
decades," Crimmins said.
Different factors may affect disability at different ages. For
instance, younger populations may have had an increase in disability because of
a greater emphasis on mental health, increased diagnoses of autism spectrum and
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders, and changes in drug use.
The study, "Trends Over 4 Decades in Disability-Free Life
Expectancy in the United States," was published online in the American
Journal of Public Health. Yuan Zhang of the USC Leonard Davis School of
Gerontology and Yasuhiko Saito, a USC graduate and faculty member at Nihon
University, were co-authors.
