The recent increase in life expectancy in Western society has not been accompanied by more years of health , warns a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Gerontology . In fact, a current twenty-something will live one year less in health than a 20-year-old a decade ago, despite the fact that the longevity of the first will be greater.
Between 1970 and 2005, the probability that a 65-year-old would survive to 85 doubled from 20% to 40% . However, according to scientists from the University of Southern California (USA), morbidity, understood as the period of life that we spend suffering serious diseases or loss of mobility, has increased in recent decades. "We always assume that each generation will be healthier and longer-lived than the previous one," explains Eileen Crimmins, co-author of the study. However, the data reveal that although we live longer in the 21st century, the number of years we remain healthy has decreased since 1998 . The healthy life expectancy for a man in 2006 was 63.8 years, while in 1998 it was 65. For women it has been reduced from 69.2 years in 1998 to 68 healthy years. The three main diseases whose prevalence has increased are cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes .
Furthermore, "the problem of chronic obesity and the increase in hypertension and cholesterol are a sign that health is not improving in the new generations," says Crimmins.
