U.S. lags in life expectancy gains
Smoking, obesity, sedentary habits all contributors
By Nathan Seppa
Despite getting high marks for treating cancer and heart disease, the United States is failing the ultimate test of its health care system, a new study finds, trailing other developed countries in life expectancy gains.
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Although life expectancy has edged upward for U.S. men and women in recent decades, several other developed countries have surged ahead in both overall life expectancy and in the expected years of life for people who have reached age 50, according to the 194-page report prepared by a panel of the National Research Council of the National Academies.
When comparing health data from the United States against other high-income nations, the researchers did find some positive signs. The United States ranks very high in cancer screening and survival and in heart attack survival. But this care is expensive: U.S. health care expenditures are roughly double the same costs in the other developed countries.
Despite high health care spending, the overall mental and physical wellness of Americans “is relatively poor,” says study coauthor Samuel Preston, a demographer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.