Explaining divergent levels of longevity in high-Income countries

Over the past 25 years, life expectancy has been rising in the United States at a slower pace than has been achieved in many other high-income countries. Consequently, the United States has been falling steadily in the world rankings for level of life expectancy, and the gap between the United State...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Crimmins, Eileen M.
Corporate Author: National Research Council (U.S.) Panel on Understanding Divergent Trends in Longevity in High-Income Countries
Other Authors: Preston, Samuel H., Cohen, Barney
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. National Academies Press c2011, 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Description
Summary:Over the past 25 years, life expectancy has been rising in the United States at a slower pace than has been achieved in many other high-income countries. Consequently, the United States has been falling steadily in the world rankings for level of life expectancy, and the gap between the United States and countries with the highest achieved life expectancies has been widening. International comparisons of various measures of self-reported health and biological markers of disease reveal similar patterns of U.S. disadvantage. The relatively poor performance of the United States with respect to achieved life expectancy over the recent past is surprising given that it spends far more on health care than any other nation in the world, both absolutely and as a percentage of gross national product. Motivated by these concerns, the National Institute on Aging requested that the National Research Council convene a panel of leading experts to clarify patterns in the levels and trends in life expectancy across nations, to examine the evidence on competing explanations for the divergent trends, and to identify strategic opportunities for health-related interventions to narrow this gap
Physical Description:PDF file (xi, 182 p.) ill
ISBN:0309186412
9780309186414
0309186404
9780309186407