A recent study by Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health found that Americans’ life expectancy is increasing at a slower rate than other parts of the world. The authors attribute the slower increase primarily to the “obesity epidemic” and its associated health conditions.
Researchers studied the medical records of approximately 1.4 million Medicare beneficiaries over age 67 with 21 defined chronic health conditions. Approximately 60% of study subjects had three or more chronic diseases.
The study authors found that both the number and type of chronic health conditions a person has significantly impacts his or her life expectancy. For example, they note that a 75-year-old American female with no chronic health conditions, on average, lives to age 92. But, if that same woman has five chronic health conditions, she will only live to age 87, and only to age 80 if she has 10 or more chronic health conditions.
Researchers suggest that medical advances that prolong life may not keep pace with the complexities of chronic disease and acknowledge that the U.S. health care system is not designed to care for people with several chronic illnesses.
