Evaluation of age-specific causes of death in the context of the Italian longevity transition

Abstract

In many low-mortality countries, life expectancy at birth increased steadily over the last century. In particular, both Italianfemales and males benefited from faster improvements in mortality compared to other high-income countries, especially fromthe 1960s, leading to an exceptional increase in life expectancy. However, Italy has not become the leader in longevity. Here, weinvestigate life expectancy trends in Italy during the period 1960–2015 for both sexes. Additionally, we contribute to the existingliterature by complementing life expectancy with an indicator of dispersion in ages at death, also known as lifespan inequality.Lifespan inequality underlies heterogeneity over age in populating health improvements and is a marker of uncertainty inthe timing of death. We further quantify the contributions of different age groups and causes of death to recent trends in lifeexpectancy and lifespan inequality. Our findings highlight the contributions of cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms to therecent increase in life expectancy but not necessarily to the decrease in lifespan inequality. Our results also uncover a morerecent challenge across Italy: worsening mortality from infectious diseases and mortality at older age.

Exploring the Relationship of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms and Impulsiveness with the Quality of Life of Older Patients with Cardiovascular Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Although aging is not directly responsible for CVD, research indicates that the prevalence of CVD increases with population aging [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Various factors contribute to this association, including natural age-related alterations within the cardiovascular system and other bodily systems over time.…”