To assess the impact of these conflicting trends, what is needed is a measure of inequality in life expectancy for the population as a whole. The gap in life expectancy between males and females has also narrowed, by about two years, over the same period (Cullen et al. On the other hand, the life expectancy gap between blacks and whites narrowed by more than three years between 19 (U.S. A widening gap in life expectancy between high- and low-mortality counties is also evident (Dwyer- Lindgren et al. Several studies show widening inequality of life expectancy across income groups (National Academies 2015). Obtaining a single measure of inequality in life expectancy presents more of a problem. It answers the question: “If members of the cohort born in 2015 were to die at the age-sex-specific mortality rates of 2015, what would be the mean age of death?” For the United States in 2015, the answer is 79 years. For any given year, it is a summary measure of age- and sex-specific mortality in that year. Many discussions of mortality are based on life expectancy, in part because measuring period life expectancy at birth is relatively straightforward. life expectancy to a rate equal to that of most other developed countries. By devoting more resources to preventing the killers of our younger population - such as suicide, gunshots, and accidents, especially motor vehicle traffic accidents - policymakers can take a significant step toward increasing U.S. Analyses of mortality data from 1950 to 2015 help put recent trends in perspective, show that life expectancy and inequality in life expectancy are usually negatively correlated, and suggest changes in health policy that could reduce inequality in life expectancy and help people live longer.Ĭurrent efforts to improve survival, and much of the research funded by the National Institutes of Health, are heavily weighted toward fighting heart disease and cancer, the leading causes of mortality and afflictions suffered most often by older Americans. Inequality in life expectancy has stopped falling and along some dimensions - such as between low-income and high-income Americans - it is increasing. Life expectancy for the total population decreased in 2015 for the first time since 1993, with larger decreases for some groups than others (Murphy et al. Recent mortality trends in the United States are disturbing.
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