Leading contributors to widening gender life expectancy gap from 2019 to 2021 included COVID-19, unintentional injuries<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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MONDAY, Nov. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) — From 2010 to 2021, the gender life expectancy gap increased, with COVID-19 the leading contributor from 2019 to 2021, according to a research letter published online Nov. 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Brandon W. Yan, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues systematically examined the contribution of COVID-19 and other underlying causes of death to the widened gender life expectancy gap from 2010 to 2021 using mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics.<\/p>\n The researchers found that the gender life expectancy gap increased 0.23 and 0.70 years from 2010 to 2019 and from 2019 to 2021, respectively. Prior to COVID-19 in 2020, for men versus women, the largest contributors to worsening life expectancy were unintentional injuries, diabetes, suicide, homicide, and heart disease (\u00e2\u0088\u00920.23, \u00e2\u0088\u00920.05, \u00e2\u0088\u00920.04, \u00e2\u0088\u00920.03, and \u00e2\u0088\u00920.03 years [45.4, 10.1, 7.8, 5.3, and 4.9 percent], respectively). This was offset by differential improvement in mortality from cancer, Alzheimer disease, and chronic lower respiratory disease, among others, for men versus women (0.12, 0.06, and 0.04 years [43.1, 20.5, and 12.3 percent], respectively). COVID-19 became the leading contributor to the widening gender life expectancy gap from 2019 to 2021, followed by unintentional injuries (\u00e2\u0088\u00920.33 and \u00e2\u0088\u00920.27 years [39.8 and 32.5 percent], respectively). The increasing gap was partially mitigated by increasing maternal deaths among women and the relative reductions in cancer and perinatal conditions among men.<\/p>\n “This analysis finds that COVID-19 and the drug overdose epidemic were major contributors to the widening gender gap in life expectancy in recent years,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n