By David Leonhardt
The New York Times
January 25, 2011
The National Academy of Sciences has just released a fascinating report on life expectancy in rich countries around the world. The researchers who wrote the report — public-health experts, demographers, economists and others, from around the world — have tried to figure out why Americans don’t live as long as people in many other countries.
From a summary of the report:
“Over the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the U.S. has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation….
“Three to five decades ago, smoking was much more widespread in the U.S. than in Europe or Japan, and the health consequences are still playing out in today’s mortality rates, the report says. Smoking appears to be responsible for a good deal of the differences in life expectancy, especially for women….
“Obesity’s contribution to lagging life expectancies in the U.S. also appears to be significant, the report says. While there is still uncertainty in the literature about the magnitude of the relationship between obesity and mortality, it may account for a fifth to a third of the shortfall in longevity in the U.S. compared to other nations, the report says….
“Lack of universal access to health care in the U.S. also has increased mortality and reduced life expectancy, the report says, though this is a less significant factor for those over age 65 because of Medicare access….”
And from the report itself:
“With respect to income inequality, it is widely believed that such inequalities are higher in the United States than in other high-income countries, in part because the United States does less to redistribute wealth among its citizens…. Poverty rates also appear to be higher in the United States than in most of the other countries….
“This combination of factors could result in higher mortality rates among people in the lower socioeconomic brackets in the United States than in other countries, pulling down U.S. life expectancy levels in general…. In particular, there is a clear pattern among U.S. white males that fits the hypothesis….On the other hand, the pattern for U.S. women is somewhat different: mortality rates are higher than in most Northern and Western European countries among those who are highly educated as well as among the least educated….
“It is difficult to draw a precise conclusion as to the size of the role of inequality in relative levels and trends in U.S. mortality above age 50.”
This country has made a lot of progress against smoking. Obesity remains a major problem, though there are some signs it’s leveling off. And as the report notes, the link between obesity and mortality isn’t yet clear. Inequality’s role also seems unclear.
So beyond reducing smoking further, the single best strategy for extending American lives would appear to be extending universal health-insurance coverage below the age of 65.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/why-dont-americans-live-longer/
National Research Council of the National Academies:
“Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries”
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13089
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
We frequently look at the lower life expectancy in the United States, in comparison to other wealthy nations, as a sign of the relatively poor performance of the U.S. health care system. We conclude that we would benefit if we established a reasonably comprehensive national health program that included everyone. Opponents contend that our system is outstanding and that reform is not necessary; individuals need only to take better care of themselves.
This new report by the National Research Council does not provide all of the answers, but it does provide very useful information. Two detrimental factors in which individuals do play some role are smoking and obesity.
On smoking, there is good news. Our high incidence of deaths from lung cancer and chronic pulmonary disease are related to the very high rates of smoking from a few decades ago. In the recent couple of decades, smoking cessation programs have been very successful, so much so that we can predict a significant increase in life expectancy as the non-smoking generation ages. Score one for those who blame individuals for our higher death rates, but also score ten for those who support the multitude of public health programs that have been so effective in reducing smoking behavior.
Obesity is a more difficult problem. Certainly a sedentary life style and poor eating habits contribute, so individuals can bear some blame, but other complex factors play even more important roles. Genetic factors, which are very important, we have no control over. Computers, televisions, work-at-home arrangements all reduce physical exertion. Community design and transportation have reduced self-propelled locomotion (i.e., walking). The food industry has not been particularly helpful, marketing excesses of nutritionally unbalanced foods, though there are signs that an awareness has set in and that product selection should improve. It’s easy to say that everyone should exercise more and eat less, but it is going to require intensive public policy and public health measures – more intensive than with the smoking cessation programs – to alter the obesity-inducing milieu.
Socioeconomic inequality in the United States certainly plays a role in our shorter life expectancy statistics. Considerable heated debate takes place over whether that is a cause or a symptom of factors leading to premature deaths. That debate is misdirected since socioeconomic inequality is deplorable for far more reasons than just our health outcomes. We do need national policies to raise the lot of those who are falling hopelessly behind. Although there is much to do, we can begin by reversing the income transfer that has been taking place from the productive workforce (hard-earned income) to the very wealthy (largely unearned income). Simple progressive tax policies can ensure that everyone has a living income, without impacting in the least the life styles of the wealthy.
You really need to read the 200 page report to understand what is known and what is not known about why we have lower life expectancies than should be expected for a wealthy nation. Regardless of those who would distract us by blaming personal failure for increased mortality, one conclusion of the report really stands out:
“The lack of universal access to health care in the United States undoubtedly increases mortality and reduces life expectancy. It is a smaller factor above age 65 than at younger ages because of Medicare.”
We know how to fix that.
