The UK has a huge wealth-related gap in disability-free life expectancy, according to an analysis published today.
Dr Paola Zaninotto and her team at University College London, UK, found that the wealthiest third of participants in their study are likely to live on average eight to nine years longer than the least wealthy third.
They analysed figures from 2002 to 2013, from 10,754 adults aged 50 and over in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, and 14,803 adults aged 50 and over from the US Health and Retirement Study.
This showed similarities in socioeconomic inequalities in both countries. Above all, for both countries, the most significant socioeconomic advantage was wealth.
Full details are published today (15 January) in the Journal of Gerontology.
“While life expectancy is a useful indicator of health, the quality of life as we get older is also crucial,” says Dr Zaninotto. “By measuring healthy life expectancy we can get an estimate of the number of years of life spent in favourable states of health or without disability.
“Our study makes a unique contribution to understanding the levels of inequalities in health expectancies between England and the US where healthcare systems are very different.”
She added that improving the quality and the quantity of life expectancy “has implications for public expenditure on health, income, long-term care of older people and work participation”.
The team believe their results suggest that policy makers in both England and the US “must make greater efforts into reducing health inequalities.”
Zaninotto, P. et al. Socioeconomic inequalities in disability-free life expectancy in older people from England and the US: a cross-national population based study. Journal of Gerontology 15 January 2020.
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