|
US life expectancy hits all-time high
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-09 07:08
ATLANTA - U.S. life expectancy has hit another all-time high �� 77.6 years ��
and deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke continue to drop, the
government reported Thursday.
Still, the march of medical progress has
taken a worrisome turn: Half of Americans in the 55-to-64 age group �� including
the oldest of the baby boomers �� have high blood pressure, and two in five are
obese. That means they are in worse shape in some respects than Americans born a
decade earlier were when they were that age.
The health of this large group of the near-elderly is of major concern to
American taxpayers, because they are now becoming eligible for Medicare and
Social Security.
"What happens to this group is very important because it's going to affect
every other group," said Amy Bernstein of the National Center for Health
Statistics, which put out the new report.
The report presents the latest data collected by the National Center for
Health Statistics and dozens of other health agencies and organizations.
Among the new data: Deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke, the
nation's three leading killers, all dropped in 2003. They were down between 2
percent and 5 percent.
Also, Americans' life expectancy increased again in 2003. According to the
government's calculations, a child born in 2003 can expect to live 77.6 years on
average, up from 77.3 the year before. In 1990, life expectancy was 75.4.
For men, life expectancy in 2003 was 74.8, for women 80.1.
Life expectancy in the U.S. has been rising almost without interruption since
1900, thanks to several factors, including extraordinary advances in medicine
and sanitation, and declines in some types of unhealthy behavior, such as
smoking.
Those trends may allow life expectancy to continue to inch up despite the
increases in obesity and high blood pressure, said Bernstein, the study's
director.
Still, health officials are trying to draw attention to unhealthy behavior,
and this year chose to break out data on people 55 to 64.
|
