ARS TECHNICA – The gap of time between how long Americans live and how much of that time is spent in good health only grew wider in the last two decades, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.
The study, which looked at global health data between 2000 and 2019—prior to the COVID-19 pandemic—found the US stood out for its years of suffering.
By 2019, Americans had a gap between their lifespan and their healthspan of 12.4 years, the largest gap of any of the 183 countries included in the study.
The second largest gap was Australia’s, at 12.1 years, followed by New Zealand at 11.8 years and the UK at 11.3 years.
America also stood out for having the largest burden of noncommunicable diseases in the world, as calculated by the years lived with disease or disability per 100,000 people.
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The news is perhaps not shocking given the relatively poor quality of health care in the US. An analysis published in January by the Commonwealth Fund found that, compared to other high-income countries, the US has the highest rate of adults with multiple chronic conditions, and the highest rate of obesity.
Among just those high-income countries, the US also has the shortest life expectancy at birth, the highest rate of avoidable deaths, the highest rate of newborn deaths, and the highest rate of maternal deaths.
That’s all despite the fact that the US spends far more on health care than any other high-income country.
For the new study, researchers at the Mayo Clinic analyzed health statistics collected by the World Health Organization. The resource included data from 183 countries, allowing the researchers to compare countries’ life expectancy and healthspans, which are calculated by years of life weighted by health status …