Women's lifespan gains slowing across the U.S., report finds - Chicago Sun-Times

Gannett News Service April 20, 2012 1:44PM

Women’s lifespans nationwide are improving at a slower pace than men’s and are shorter in many U.S. counties than they were 20 years ago, according to a new report.

The trend is cause for alarm even though women are still expected to outlive men by four years, says the report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a health research center at the University of Washington. The study was based on mortality data by age, sex and county from 1989 to 2009.

Life expectancy for U.S. men improved by 4.6 years on average but only by 2.7 years for women. Lifespans county to county across the nation range, on average, from 66.1 to 81.6 years for men and 73.5 to 86 years for women.

“A gain in life expectancy should be equal among men and women,” says Ali Mokdad, director of the research team. “This is a wake-up call for all of us. It’s tragic that in a country as wealthy as the United States, and with all the medical expertise we have, that so many girls will live shorter lives than their mothers.”

A larger percentage of women than men aren’t adequately treating high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the researchers said.

Key reasons for the disparities are preventable causes of death, including tobacco, obesity and alcohol.

Across the country, there’s nearly a 12-year gap in women’s lifespans. Women live the longest in Collier, Fla. (85.8 percent) but had the shortest lifespans in McDowell, W.Va. (74.1). In 1989, the gap was 8.7 years.

“So much of this can be corrected,” Mokdad says. “We need to do a better job educating people about lifestyle and getting good health care. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country, and other countries are doing a better job than us.”

For instance in Australia, life expectancy improved 12 years in both men and women from 1989 to 2009, Mokdad says. When it comes to lifespan, U.S. men rank 37th out of 196 countries, and women rank 38th.

Gannett News Service