Sex difference identified, with women exhibiting a wider health span-lifespan gap than men<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 11, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Health span-lifespan gaps, resulting from health-adjusted life expectancy lagging behind longevity gains, are growing worldwide, with women exhibiting a larger gap than men, according to a study published online Dec. 11 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Armin Garmany and Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, quantified the health span-lifespan gap across the globe in a retrospective, cross-sectional study using the World Health Organization Global Health Observatory. The 183 WHO member states were assessed, with data representing two decades of follow-up.<\/p>\n The researchers found that during the last two decades, the health span-lifespan gap widened globally among the WHO member states, extending to 9.6 years. There was a sex difference observed: Compared with men, women presented a mean health span-lifespan gap that was 2.4 years wider. There was a positive association seen for health span-lifespan gaps with the burden of noncommunicable diseases and total morbidity and a negative association with mortality. The largest health span-lifespan gap was seen for the United States, amounting to 12.4 years, which was related to an increase in noncommunicable diseases.<\/p>\n “These results underscore that around the world, while people live longer, they live a greater number of years burdened by disease,” the authors write. “To identify drivers of the health span-lifespan gap, associated demographic, health, and economic characteristics need to be investigated by geography.”<\/p>\n