Longer lives, worse health? Scientists uncover troubling trend across generations
People across the world are living longer, but they’re also spending more years coping with ill health, a recent study observed.The "morbidity gap" — the number of years people spend in poor health, typically struggling with chronic challenges such as low back pain, hearing loss and depression — widened across 203 of 204 countries analyzed, and was the most pronounced in America, the researchers found."Globally in 2023, an average of 14·5% of life was spent in poor health, compared to 13·6% in 1990," the researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington reported.JANE SEYMOUR, 75, SHARES HOW SHE APPROACHES AGING WITH VITALITY: 'BEST I CAN BE'In the United States, the morbidity gap is about 14 years, or 17.8% of the expected lifespan."Between 1990 and 2023, global life expectancy at birth increased from 64.6 years to 73.8 years, while healthy life expectancy rose from 55.9 years to 63.1 years," the researchers reported in a news release.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS"Because gains in survival consistently outpaced gains in healthy years of life, people are spending more years living with chronic disease and disability," they wrote.The gap widened the most in the wealthiest countries where populations have access to life-extending resources, the researchers reported. Women are also living longer than men, but also spending more years in poor health, they found."To me, the most important message of this study is not that people are living longer — it is that we have become far better at delaying death than delaying functional decline," Dr.
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People across the world are living longer, but they’re also spending more years coping with ill health, a recent study observed.The "morbidity gap" — the number of years people spend in poor health, typically struggling with chronic challenges such as low back pain, hearing loss and depression — widened across 203 of 204 countries analyzed, and was the most pronounced in America, the researchers found."Globally in 2023, an average of 14·5% of life was spent in poor health, compared to 13·6% in 1990," the researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington reported.JANE SEYMOUR, 75, SHARES HOW SHE APPROACHES AGING WITH VITALITY: 'BEST I CAN BE'In the United States, the morbidity gap is about 14 years, or 17.8% of the expected lifespan."Between 1990 and 2023, global life expectancy at birth increased from 64.6 years to 73.8 years, while healthy life expectancy rose from 55.9 years to 63.1 years," the researchers reported in a news release.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS"Because gains in survival consistently outpaced gains in healthy years of life, people are spending more years living with chronic disease and disability," they wrote.The gap widened the most in the wealthiest countries where populations have access to life-extending resources, the researchers reported. Women are also living longer than men, but also spending more years in poor health, they found."To me, the most important message of this study is not that people are living longer — it is that we have become far better at delaying death than delaying functional decline," Dr. Antony Chu, clinical assistant professor at Brown University’s Warren Alpert School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital."Modern medicine has achieved remarkable success in reducing mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer, trauma and infectious illness," he said. "Yet many of those additional years are now lived with chronic pain, disability, sensory loss, depression or reduced independence."TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZResearchers analyzed Global Burden of Disease data covering 204 countries and territories from 1990 through 2023.
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- People across the world are living longer, but they’re also spending more years coping with ill health, a recent study observed.The "morbidity gap" — the number of years people spend in poor health, typically struggling with chronic challenges such as low back pain, hearing loss and depression — widened across 203 of 204 countries analyzed, and was the most pronounced in America, the researchers found."Globally in 2023, an average of 14·5% of life was spent in poor health, compared to 13·6% in 1990," the researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington reported.JANE SEYMOUR, 75, SHARES HOW SHE APPROACHES AGING WITH VITALITY: 'BEST I CAN BE'In the United States, the morbidity gap is about 14 years, or 17.8% of the expected lifespan."Between 1990 and 2023, global life expectancy at birth increased from 64.6 years to 73.8 years, while healthy life expectancy rose from 55.9 years to 63.1 years," the researchers reported in a news release.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS"Because gains in survival consistently outpaced gains in healthy years of life, people are spending more years living with chronic disease and disability," they wrote.The gap widened the most in the wealthiest countries where populations have access to life-extending resources, the researchers reported. Women are also living longer than men, but also spending more years in poor health, they found."To me, the most important message of this study is not that people are living longer — it is that we have become far better at delaying death than delaying functional decline," Dr.
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Longer lives, worse health? Scientists uncover troubling trend across generations
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