Report: U.S. life expectancy lagging because of smoking: Obesity also cited as contributing factor
by Charlotte Tucker
Life expectancies in the United States lag behind some other high-income countries less because of things Americans are doing now than because of behaviors they have engaged in the past.
Specifically, U.S life expectancies are lagging because of smoking. According to a report released by the National Research Council in January, heavy smoking in the past five decades is shortening American life spans today...
...Over the past 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the United States has been increasing, but at a much slower rate than in some other high-income countries. According to National Center for Health Statistics 2007 data, the average life expectancy at birth today is 75.3 years for men and 80.4 years for women. To contrast, in Japan men live to an average age of 79.2 years and women to 86 years, as of 2006.
A group of seniors dances at a wellness center in Washington, D.C., in July 2010. While the average life expectancy for Americans is 77.9 years, the nation lags behind some other high-income countries because of factors such as past smoking...
... If U.S. obesity trends continue, they may offset life expectancy gains that are predicted to occur in coming decades, a report found.
The relationship between obesity levels and obesity risks "bears watching as an important factor in future longevity trends in the United States," the authors wrote.
Read the full article:
http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/41/2/1.2.full
View the report:
"Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries," is available at www.nap.edu.
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