scholarly journals What can lifespan variation reveal that life expectancy hides? Comparison of five high-income countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 014107682110117
Author(s):  
Lucinda Hiam ◽  
Jon Minton ◽  
Martin McKee
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Population Data ◽  
High Income ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
Specific Mortality ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Lifespan Variation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Aggregate Population

Objectives In most countries, life expectancy at birth (e0) has improved for many decades. Recently, however, progress has stalled in the UK and Canada, and reversed in the USA. Lifespan variation, a complementary measure of mortality, increased a few years before the reversal in the USA. To assess whether this measure offers additional meaningful insights, we examine what happened in four other high-income countries with differing life expectancy trends. Design We calculated life disparity (a specific measure of lifespan variation) in five countries -- USA, UK, France, Japan and Canada -- using sex- and age specific mortality rates from the Human Mortality Database from 1975 to 2017 for ages 0--100 years. We then examined trends in age-specific mortality to identify the age groups contributing to these changes. Setting USA, UK, France, Japan and Canada Participants aggregate population data of the above nations. Main Outcome Measures Life expectancy at birth, life disparity and age-specific mortality. Results The stalls and falls in life expectancy, for both males and females, seen in the UK, USA and Canada coincided with rising life disparity. These changes may be driven by worsening mortality in middle-age (such as at age 40). France and Japan, in contrast, continue on previous trajectories. Conclusions Life disparity is an additional summary measure of population health providing information beyond that signalled by life expectancy at birth alone.

scholarly journals What can lifespan variation tell us about trends in life expectancy in high income countries?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Hiam ◽  
J Minton ◽  
M McKee
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Environmental Event ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Lifespan Variation ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Building on the findings of presentations 1 and 2, we turn to two further measures of population health: life expectancy at birth and lifespan variation. Life expectancy at birth provides a single figure that captures the overall mortality experience of a nation, and, in the absence of data artefact, a wide-scale environmental event such as war or natural disaster, a disease epidemic or mass migration, life expectancy can be expected to continue to improve in HICs. Concurrently lifespan variation, which measures the average gap between the age at death of an individual and the remaining life expectancy at that age, should decrease as life expectancy increases. Recent analysis of life expectancy improvements in HICs by the Office for National Statistics, using Human Mortality Database data, found that while Japan continues to see improvements, the UK and the USA fell to the bottom of the rankings. Economically, both the UK and Japan have experienced 'lost decades' of poor economic growth, in 1990s and 2010s respectively. Yet, while Japan continued to see life expectancy improvements, in the UK life expectancy stalled, and both countries saw an increase in lifespan variation. In this presentation, we will present the analysis of lifespan variation of 5 HICs: the USA, where life expectancy has declined, the UK, where gains in life expectancy have trailed behind those in other industrialised countries, Japan, which has seen sustained progress, and France and Canada, neighbours of the UK and USA respectively, which lie in the middle. We will examine what can be determined from these measures over periods of poor economic growth, and the implications for achieving 'sustainable growth'.

Socioeconomic factors affecting the longevity of the Japanese population: a study for 1980 and 1985

1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiichi Uchida ◽  
Shunichi Araki ◽  
Katsuyuki Murata
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Socioeconomic Factors ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Japanese Population ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
High Income ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
Males And Females

SummaryThe effects of urbanisation, low income and rejuvenation of the population on life expectancy at birth and at 20, 40 and 65 years of age for males and females in Japan were examined twice, in 1980 and 1985. For males, urbanisation was the major factor determining life expectancy at birth and at age 20 years, and low income was the key determinant of decreased life expectancy except at 65 years of age. For females high income was the factor significantly decreasing life expectancy at 65 years of age in 1980, and rejuvenation of the population inversely influenced life expectancy except at birth in 1985. Life expectancy for all age groups in 1985 was significantly longer than in 1980 for both males and females.

scholarly journals Beyond deaths per capita: comparative COVID-19 mortality indicators

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e042934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Heuveline ◽  
Michael Tzen
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
Population Distribution ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Secondary Outcome ◽  
Crude Death Rate ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Age And Sex ◽  
Direct Standardisation

ObjectivesFollowing well-established practices in demography, this article discusses several measures based on the number of COVID-19 deaths to facilitate comparisons over time and across populations.SettingsNational populations in 186 United Nations countries and territories and populations in first-level subnational administrative entities in Brazil, China, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Spain and the USA.ParticipantsNone (death statistics only).Primary and secondary outcome measuresAn unstandardised occurrence/exposure rate comparable to the Crude Death Rate; an indirectly age-and-sex standardised rate that can be derived even when the breakdown of COVID-19 deaths by age and sex required for direct standardisation is unavailable; the reduction in life expectancy at birth corresponding to the 2020 number of COVID-19 deaths.ResultsTo date, the highest unstandardised rate has been in New York, at its peak exceeding the state 2017 crude death rate. Populations compare differently after standardisation: while parts of Italy, Spain and the USA have the highest unstandardised rates, parts of Mexico and Peru have the highest standardised rates. For several populations with the necessary data by age and sex for direct standardisation, we show that direct and indirect standardisation yield similar results. US life expectancy is estimated to have declined this year by more than a year (−1.26 years), far more than during the worst year of the HIV epidemic, or the worst 3 years of the opioid crisis, and to reach its lowest level since 2008. Substantially larger reductions, exceeding 2 years, are estimated for Panama, Peru, and parts of Italy, Spain, the USA and especially, Mexico.ConclusionsWith lesser demand on data than direct standardisation, indirect standardisation is a valid alternative to adjust international comparisons for differences in population distribution by sex and age-groups. A number of populations have experienced reductions in 2020 life expectancies that are substantial by recent historical standards.

scholarly journals Quantifying impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through life expectancy losses: a population-level study of 29 countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Manuel Aburto ◽  
Jonas Schöley ◽  
Ilya Kashnitsky ◽  
Luyin Zhang ◽  
Charles Rahal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Ww Ii ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Population Sizes

AbstractVariations in the age patterns and magnitudes of excess deaths, as well as differences in population sizes and age structures make cross-national comparisons of the cumulative mortality impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic challenging. Life expectancy is a widely-used indicator that provides a clear and cross-nationally comparable picture of the population-level impacts of the pandemic on mortality. Life tables by sex were calculated for 29 countries, including most European countries, Chile and the USA for 2015-2020. Life expectancy at birth and at age 60 for 2020 were contextualised against recent trends between 2015-19. Using decomposition techniques we examined which specific age groups contributed to reductions in life expectancy in 2020 and to what extent reductions were attributable to official COVID-19 deaths. Life expectancy at birth declined from 2019 to 2020 in 27 out of 29 countries. Males in the USA and Bulgaria experienced the largest losses in life expectancy at birth during 2020 (2.1 and 1.6 years respectively), but reductions of more than an entire year were documented in eleven countries for males, and eight among females. Reductions were mostly attributable to increased mortality above age 60 and to official COVID-19 deaths. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered significant mortality increases in 2020 of a magnitude not witnessed since WW-II in Western Europe or the breakup of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. Females from 15 countries and males from 10 ended up with lower life expectancy at birth in 2020 than in 2015.

scholarly journals The decomposition of life expectancy for age and cause of death in Tuscany, Italy

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
N Nante ◽  
L Kundisova ◽  
F Gori ◽  
A Martini ◽  
F Battisti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
National Level ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Resistant Bacteria ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
Icd 10 ◽  
Reduction Of Mortality ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Introduction Changing of life expectancy at birth (LE) over time reflects variations of mortality rates of a certain population. Italy is amongst the countries with the highest LE, Tuscany ranks fifth at the national level. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the impact of various causes of death in different age groups on the change in LE in the Tuscany region (Italy) during period 1987-2015. Material and methods Mortality data relative to residents that died during the period between 1987/1989 and 2013/2015 were provided by the Tuscan Regional Mortality Registry. The causes of death taken into consideration were cardiovascular (CVS), respiratory (RESP) and infective (INF) diseases and cancer (TUM). The decomposition of LE gain was realized with software Epidat, using the Pollard’s method. Results The overall LE gain during the period between two three-years periods was 6.7 years for males, with a major gain between 65-89, and 4.5 years for females, mainly improved between 75-89, <1 year for both sexes. The major gain (2.6 years) was attributable to the reduction of mortality for CVS, followed by TUM (1.76 in males and 0.83 in females) and RESP (0.4 in males; 0.1 in females). The major loss of years of LE was attributable to INF (-0.15 in females; -0.07 in males) and lung cancer in females (-0.13), for which the opposite result was observed for males (gain of 0.62 years of LE). Conclusions During the study period (1987-2015) the gain in LE was major for males. To the reduction of mortality for CVS have contributed to the tempestuous treatment of acute CVS events and secondary CVS prevention. For TUM the result is attributable to the adherence of population to oncologic screening programmes. The excess of mortality for INF that lead to the loss of LE can be attributed to the passage from ICD-9 to ICD-10 in 2003 (higher sensibility of ICD-10) and to the diffusion of multi-drug resistant bacteria, which lead to elevated mortality in these years. Key messages The gain in LE during the period the 1987-2015 was higher in males. The major contribution to gain in LE was due to a reduction of mortality for CVS diseases.

scholarly journals Health at the ballot box: disease threat does not predict attractiveness preference in British politicians

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 160049
Author(s):  
Gustav Nilsonne ◽  
Adam Renberg ◽  
Sandra Tamm ◽  
Mats Lekander
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Adaptive Behaviours ◽  
The Uk

According to disease avoidance theory, selective pressures have shaped adaptive behaviours to avoid people who might transmit infections. Such behavioural immune defence strategies may have social and societal consequences. Attractiveness is perceived as a heuristic cue of good health, and the relative importance of attractiveness is predicted to increase during high disease threat. Here, we investigated whether politicians' attractiveness is more important for electoral success when disease threat is high, in an effort to replicate earlier findings from the USA. We performed a cross-sectional study of 484 members of the House of Commons from England and Wales. Publicly available sexiness ratings (median 5883 ratings/politician) were regressed on measures of disease burden, operationalized as infant mortality, life expectancy and self-rated health. Infant mortality in parliamentary constituencies did not significantly predict sexiness of elected members of parliament ( p  = 0.08), nor did life expectancy ( p  = 0.06), nor self-rated health ( p  = 0.55). Subsample analyses failed to provide further support for the hypothesis. In conclusion, an attractive leader effect was not amplified by disease threat in the UK and these results did not replicate those of earlier studies from the USA concerning the relationship between attractiveness, disease threat and voting preference.

scholarly journals Beyond standardized mortality ratios; some uses of smoothed age-specific mortality rates on small areas studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Perez-Panades ◽  
Paloma Botella-Rocamora ◽  
Miguel Angel Martinez-Beneito
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Dependence Structure ◽  
Risk Indicator ◽  
Small Areas ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
First Case ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Standardized Mortality Ratios

Abstract Background Most epidemiological risk indicators strongly depend on the age composition of populations, which makes the direct comparison of raw (unstandardized) indicators misleading because of the different age structures of the spatial units of study. Age-standardized rates (ASR) are a common solution for overcoming this confusing effect. The main drawback of ASRs is that they depend on age-specific rates which, when working with small areas, are often based on very few, or no, observed cases for most age groups. A similar effect occurs with life expectancy at birth and many more epidemiological indicators, which makes standardized mortality ratios (SMR) the omnipresent risk indicator for small areas epidemiologic studies. Methods To deal with this issue, a multivariate smoothing model, the M-model, is proposed in order to fit the age-specific probabilities of death (PoDs) for each spatial unit, which assumes dependence between closer age groups and spatial units. This age–space dependence structure enables information to be transferred between neighboring consecutive age groups and neighboring areas, at the same time, providing more reliable age-specific PoDs estimates. Results Three case studies are presented to illustrate the wide range of applications that smoothed age specific PoDs have in practice . The first case study shows the application of the model to a geographical study of lung cancer mortality in women. This study illustrates the convenience of considering age–space interactions in geographical studies and to explore the different spatial risk patterns shown by the different age groups. Second, the model is also applied to the study of ischaemic heart disease mortality in women in two cities at the census tract level. Smoothed age-standardized rates are derived and compared for the census tracts of both cities, illustrating some advantages of this mortality indicator over traditional SMRs. In the latest case study, the model is applied to estimate smoothed life expectancy (LE), which is the most widely used synthetic indicator for characterizing overall mortality differences when (not so small) spatial units are considered. Conclusion Our age–space model is an appropriate and flexible proposal that provides more reliable estimates of the probabilities of death, which allow the calculation of enhanced epidemiological indicators (smoothed ASR, smoothed LE), thus providing alternatives to traditional SMR-based studies of small areas.

scholarly journals Changes in life expectancy due to avoidable and non-avoidable deaths in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, 2000-2011

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Dávila-Cervantes ◽  
Marcela Agudelo-Botero
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Vital Statistics ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Avoidable Deaths ◽  
Avoidable Death

Abstract: The objective of this study was to analyze the level and trend of avoidable deaths and non-avoidable deaths and their contribution to the change in life expectancy in Latin America by studying the situations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico between the years 2000 and 2011, stratified by sex and 5-year age groups. The information source used in this study was the mortality vital statistics, and the population data were obtained from censuses or estimates. The proposal by Nolte & McKee (2012) was used to calculate the standardized mortality rates and the influence from avoidable and non-avoidable causes in the change in life expectancy between 0 and 74 years. In Argentina, Chile and Colombia, all the rates declined between the years 2000 and 2011, whereas in Mexico, the avoidable deaths and non-avoidable deaths rates increased slightly for men and decreased for women. In all the countries, the non-avoidable death rates were higher than the avoidable death rates, and the rates were higher for men. The largest contributions to changes in life expectancy were explained by the non-avoidable deaths for men in all countries and for women in Argentina; in contrast, in Chile, Colombia and Mexico, the gains in years of life expectancy for women were mainly a result of avoidable causes. The results suggest there have been reductions in mortality from these causes that have resulted in gains in years of life expectancy in the region. Despite these achievements, differences between countries, sex and age groups are still present, without any noticeable progress in the reduction of these inequalities until now.

scholarly journals Evaluating compression or expansion of morbidity in Canada: trends in life expectancy and health-adjusted life expectancy from 1994 to 2010

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Steensma ◽  
Lidia Loukine ◽  
Bernard Choi
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
Prince Edward Island ◽  
National Level ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Annual Increase ◽  
Average Annual Increase ◽  
Statistics Canada ◽  
Expansion Of Morbidity

Introduction The objective of this study was to investigate whether morbidity in Canada, at the national and provincial levels, is compressing or expanding by tracking trends in life expectancy (LE) and health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) from 1994 to 2010. “Compression” refers to a decrease in the proportion of life spent in an unhealthy state over time. It happens when HALE increases faster than LE. “Expansion” refers to an increase in the proportion of life spent in an unhealthy state that happens when HALE is stable or increases more slowly than LE. Methods We estimated LE using mortality and population data from Statistics Canada. We took health-related quality of life (i.e. morbidity) data used to calculate HALE from the National Population Health Survey (1994–1999) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (2000–2010). We built abridged life tables for seven time intervals, covering the period 1994 to 2010 and corresponding to the year of each available survey cycle, for females and males, and for each of the 10 Canadian provinces. National and provincial trends were assessed at birth, and at ages 20 years and 65 years. Results We observed an overall average annual increase in HALE that was statistically significant in both Canadian females and males at each of the three ages assessed, with the exception of females at birth. At birth, HALE increased an average of 0.2% (p = .08) and 0.3% (p $lt; .001) annually for females and males respectively over the 1994 to 2010 period. At the national level for all three age groups, we observed a statistically nonsignificant average annual increase in the proportion of life spent in an unhealthy state, with the exception of men at age 65, who experienced a non-significant decrease. At the provincial level at birth, we observed a significant increase in proportion of life spent in an unhealthy state for Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and Prince Edward Island (PEI). Conclusion Our study did not detect a clear overall trend in compression or expansion of morbidity from 1994 to 2010 at the national level in Canada. However, our results suggested an expansion of morbidity in NL and PEI. Our study indicates the importance of continued tracking of the secular trends of life expectancy and HALE in Canada in order to verify the presence of compression or expansion of morbidity. Further study should be undertaken to understand what is driving the observed expansion of morbidity in NL and in PEI.

scholarly journals Recent adverse mortality trends in Scotland: comparison with other high-income countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda Fenton ◽  
Jon Minton ◽  
Julie Ramsay ◽  
Maria Kaye-Bardgett ◽  
Colin Fischbacher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
High Income ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
List Type ◽  
Segmented Regression ◽  
Mortality Trends ◽  
The Usa

AbstractObjectiveGains in life expectancy have faltered in several high-income countries in recent years. We aim to compare life expectancy trends in Scotland to those seen internationally, and to assess the timing of any recent changes in mortality trends for Scotland.SettingAustria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England & Wales, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA.MethodsWe used life expectancy data from the Human Mortality Database (HMD) to calculate the mean annual life expectancy change for 24 high-income countries over five-year periods from 1992 to 2016, and the change for Scotland for five-year periods from 1857 to 2016. One- and two-break segmented regression models were applied to mortality data from National Records of Scotland (NRS) to identify turning points in age-standardised mortality trends between 1990 and 2018.ResultsIn 2012-2016 life expectancies in Scotland increased by 2.5 weeks/year for females and 4.5 weeks/year for males, the smallest gains of any period since the early 1970s. The improvements in life expectancy in 2012-2016 were smallest among females (<2.0 weeks/year) in Northern Ireland, Iceland, England & Wales and the USA and among males (<5.0 weeks/year) in Iceland, USA, England & Wales and Scotland. Japan, Korea, and countries of Eastern Europe have seen substantial gains in the same period. The best estimate of when mortality rates changed to a slower rate of improvement in Scotland was the year to 2012 Q4 for males and the year to 2014 Q2 for females.ConclusionLife expectancy improvement has stalled across many, but not all, high income countries. The recent change in the mortality trend in Scotland occurred within the period 2012-2014. Further research is required to understand these trends, but governments must also take timely action on plausible contributors.Strengths and limitations of this studyThe use of five-year time periods for comparison of life expectancy changes reduces the influence of year-to-year variation on observations.Examining long-term trends addresses concerns that recent life expectancy stalling may be over-emphasised due to notably large gains in the immediately preceding period.The international comparison was limited to the 24 high-income countries for which data were readily available for the relevant period.Analysis of trend data will always be sensitive to the period selected, however segmented regression of the full period of mortality rates available offers an objective method of identifying the timing of a change in trend.

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