News: U.S. has highest healthspan-lifespan gap in the world, report suggests

“Gains in life expectancy across global populations are recognized as a societal achievement,” wrote a group of researchers in a newly published JAMA Network Open article. “Increased lifespan, however, does not necessarily mean a longer healthy life,” they also noted.

In contrast to the commonly used lifespan expectancy measures, researchers argued that utilizing a “healthspan” estimate—"health-adjusted life expectancy whereby years of life are weighted by health status”—is the most useful tool for gauging a given country’s healthy life expectancy.

To this effect, the authors examined a cross-section of 183 World Health Organization (WHO) member countries to determine “[w]hat is the healthspan-lifespan gap, representing the number of years burdened by disease, in men and women across the world.”

According to their analysis, “[g]lobally, the mean healthspan-lifespan gap was 9.6 years, and women exhibited a mean 2.4-year larger gap than men, associated with a disproportionately larger burden of noncommunicable diseases in women.”

In particular, the United States stood out as it presented “the largest healthspan-lifespan gap” (12.4 years), a trend, the authors argued, that could be explained by “a rise in noncommunicable diseases.” When compared with the past two decades, the 12.4 years figure represents a 29% higher gap than the global mean.

In conclusion, the researchers noted that “around the world,” while people appear to be living longer, “they live a greater number of years burdened by disease”: “To identify drivers of the healthspan-lifespan gap, associated demographic, health, and economic characteristics need to be investigated by geography.”

Editor’s note: To read the JAMA Network Open article, click here.