Modern old people retain their legal capacity longer
The results of the work carried out by employees of Harvard University and the US National Bureau of Economic Research indicate that the increase in life expectancy that has occurred over the past 20 years has been accompanied by an even more pronounced increase in the number of years lived by people without disabilities. This is due to significant improvements in the state of the cardiovascular system and a decrease in the severity of vision problems.
The study showed that in 1992, the life expectancy of a 65-year-old person was 17.5 years, 8.9 of which he did not experience disability. By 2008, the total life expectancy had increased to 18.8 years. In addition, the number of years lived without disability also increased from 8.9 to 10.7 years, while the number of years with limited legal capacity decreased from 8.6 to 8.1.
The authors identified two main mechanisms behind these changes: cardiovascular health and vision.
They note that recently there has been a significant decrease in mortality and the incidence of disability due to diseases of the cardiovascular system and heart failure. This was partly because people began to smoke less and eat better, however, according to experts, about half of this trend is due to improved medical care, in particular, the appointment of statins, which not only prevent the development of myocardial infarction, but also improve the results of its therapy and recovery of patients.
The lion's share of improvements in eye health can be summed up in one word: cataracts. In the past, cataract surgery was very long and difficult from a technical point of view. Now such operations are performed on an outpatient basis, and the frequency of complications has significantly decreased.
While improvements in the prevention and treatment of heart disease and the restoration of vision have made a significant contribution to life expectancy without disability, some conditions still remain a serious problem. These include dementia, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as chronic disabling conditions such as diabetes mellitus.
To assess disability, the authors analyzed the results of annual surveys conducted within the framework of public health care for the elderly in the United States to find out the difficulties experienced by older people when performing physical tasks such as walking, laying down and getting out of bed or taking a shower, as well as in everyday activities such as cooking, managing money and performing work on the house.
The ultimate goal of collecting this information is to assess people's ability to live independently, with about half of the respondents noting difficulties with at least one of the estimated parameters.
Comparing these data on legal capacity with data on life expectancy from the US National Civil Registration System allowed the authors to develop a unique criterion for assessing not only life expectancy, but also the number of years that a person is expected to live without disability.
While the results show a clear positive trend, the researchers note that a number of questions still remain open. In particular, it is necessary to find out whether the revealed trend extends to all socio-economic groups and geographical regions. Recently obtained data indicate that the severity of improvements is unevenly distributed in the population.
The results of the work are published in the form of a working report of the National Bureau of Economic Research of the USA: Michael Chernew et al., Understanding the Improvement in Disability Free Life Expectancy In the U.S. Elderly Population.
Evgenia Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
based on materials from Harvard University: Longer life, disability free.
10.06.2016