U.S. Life Expectancy Increases Marginally, But Lags Other Countries
U.S. life expectancy has increased only marginally according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It rose from 77.8 years in 2004 to 77.9 in 2005, the latest statistics available. Hmm… Sort of ho-hum news. My view is that the real news is the extent to which life expectancy in the U.S. falls well short of that in dozens of other countries.
You would think that the world’s richest nation ought to outstrip other countries by a comfortable margin in light of the fact that it spends more on health care than any of the others. Not so! Japan leads the world where women born today can expect to live to 86. In 41 countries, newborns have a greater average life expectancy greater than in America. Even Jordan does better. While the U.S. prides itself on the belief that it has the best health system in the world, that notion is clearly belied by the fact that U.S. life expectancy has fallen from 11th two decades ago to 42nd.
A number of factors can be cited. Among them are:
- 45 million Americans lack health insurance
- Obesity is on the rise
- Racial disparities - Black Americans live shorter lives
- Higher infant mortality
The top 15 causes of death in the U.S. for 2005 were:
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Stroke
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases (lung diseases)
- Accidents
- Diabetes
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Influenza and pneumonia
- Kidney disease
- Septicemia (a serious blood infection)
- Suicide
- Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
- High blood pressure
- Parkinson’s disease
- Homicide
In all probability, the U.S. will not move up the life expectancy charts until a lot more Americans are covered by health insurance. That won’t begin to occur until the endless debates over how to achieve this, if at all, reach a conclusion. Beyond that, reduction of the incidence of heart disease and cancer along with further inroads toward reducing tobacco and alcohol use, controlling blood pressure, reducing cholesterol and regulating blood sugar will help to reverse this downward trend.
If there is to be improvement in American life expectancy, it probably is a long way off, given what’s required.
What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment below.
Tags: age, Age Discrimination, aging population, Aging Process, Anti Aging, Baby Boomers, life expectancy, senior citizens, seniors
