U.S. Life Expectancy Is Down—Again

Life expectancy is the average time a person might live; a baby born in 2017 will be expected to live 78.6 years according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. That’s a long time, but it could be better. After reaching a high in 2015, U.S. life expectancy decreased in 2017 (1). It was only a tenth of a year, just over a month, but it’s the second year in a row life expectancy in the U.S. decreased.

Where do other major countries stand on life expectancy? Japan still leads the world at 85 years (2). Other notable countries are Australia and Italy at 82.3 and Sweden at 82.1. Our neighbors to the north in Canada are at 81.9 years, tied with France and Norway. The lowest quartile is mostly African countries; click the second reference below to find where other countries rank. Where does the U.S. rank? In the mid-40s. Seems like we should be higher, doesn’t it?

Researchers decided to examine how lifestyle could impact life expectancy. They used data from the Nurses Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study with a combined subject pool of over 120,000 men and women who’ve been followed since the 1980s. They then calculated a health score for each subject, examined who died and what they died from over the past 30 or so years, and examined how health habits related to mortality. We’ll check out the results in Thursday’s Memo.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

References:
1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db293.pdf.
2. http://bit.ly/2sl8TcH
3. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032047.