Changing Mortality and Morbidity Rates and the Health Status and Life Expectancy of the Older Population

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the consequences of changes in mortality and health transition rates for changes in both health status life expectancy and the prevalence of health problems in the older population. A five-state multistate life table for the mid-1980s provides the baseline for estimating the effect of differing mortality and morbidity schedules. Results show that improving mortality alone implies increases in both the years and the proportion of dependent life; improving morbidity alone reduces both the years and the proportion of dependent life. Improving mortality alone leads to a higher prevalence of dependent individuals in the life table population; improving morbidity alone leads to a lower percentage of individuals with problems in functioning.

Age-specific and lifetime behavior patterns in Drosophila melanogaster and the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata

“…We suggest that the set of behaviors that are common in or unique to individuals at older ages be referred to as degenerative behaviors. This new category will provide needed coherency in the development of concepts concerned with disability processes (Albrecht et al, 2001;Bickenbach et al, 1999;Verbrugge and Jette, 1994), active life span (Katz et al, 1983;Manton and Land, 2000), and morbidity dynamics (Crimmins, 2004;Crimmins et al, 1994;Manton et al, 1997) in both humans and model organisms.…”

Aging: The Reality: "Anti-Aging" Is an Oxymoron

“…From 1900, when life expectancy at birth was about 49 years, until today, there has occurred in developed countries approximately a 27-year increase in life expectation at birth (7,8). This increase is equivalent to the gain in life expectancy that occurred during the previous 2000 years.…”

“…Only a 6-year increase in life expectation occurred in the following 27 years (7,8). For an increase of even 10 more years in human life expectation to occur in the United States in the next 50 years, mortality rates will have to decline to a level that has never before been achieved (9).…”

The relationship between baseline health and longitudinal costs of hospital use

“…By directly estimating costs as a function of initial health, we avoid the possibly restrictive Markov assumption of duration independent transitions. There is evidence that the probability of returning to good health is smaller if the time spent in bad health is longer, and that transitions in health are indeed not independent of duration (Burchardt, 2000;Cai et al, 2006;Crimmins et al, 1994).…”