People Can Rejoice As The Number Of Healthy Years Are Increasing, Even With Life-Long Health Conditions

According to a new study, the number of healthy years that people get to live has been increasing on average, even for those that suffer from common chronic conditions.

Because of major healthcare advances that have occurred over recent decades, they’ve given many people dealing with lifelong health conditions, a longer chance to live.

In this new study, the research group wanted to figure out whether these extensions to people’s lives are the same for those with or without disability. In order to learn more, the team took data from two large population-based studies of people 65 years of age and more from England.

The studies, namely Cognitive Function and Aging Studies (CFAS I and II), which involved baseline interviews with 7,635 people in 1991 to 1993, as well as 7,762 people in 2008 to 2011, with two years of follow up for every case.

Their research found that for both healthy people and those with health issues, the average years of disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) got higher, in the years 1991 to 2011. All in all, ‘men gained 4.6 years in life expectancy (95% CI: 3.7—5.5 years, p<0.001)) and 3.7 years in DFLE (95% CI: 2.7— 4.8, p<0.001)).’

This means that men with health conditions such as coronary heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and stroke, actually gained more years in DFLE than years with disability. Moreover, the biggest improvements in DFLE in men were observed for those with respiratory difficulties and those who were still alive after having a stroke.

The study shows that, ‘Between 1991 and 2011, women experienced an increase in life expectancy at age 65 years of 2.1 years (95% CI: 1.1- 3.0 years, p<0.001), and an increase in DFLE of 2.0 years (95% CI: 1.0— 2.9 years, p<0.001).’

Comparable to men, the most improvement in life expectancy for women that had long-term conditions was in their disability-free years. However, women with cognitive impairment ‘experienced an increase in life expectancy with disability (1.6 years, 95% CI: 0.1—3.1, p=0.04) without any improvement in DFLE.’

Moreover, the study also shared that ‘Men with cognitive impairment experienced only a small increase in DFLE (1.4 years, 95% CI: -0.7—3.4, p=0.18) with an increase in life expectancy with disability that was comparable in magnitude (1.4 years, 95%CI: 0.2-2.5, p=0.02).’

In addition, it also explained, ‘Therefore, at age 65, the percentage of remaining years of life which were spent disability-free decreased for men with cognitive impairment (difference CFAS II—CFAS I: -3.6%, 95% confidence interval (CI): -8.2—1.0, p=0.12) and women with cognitive impairment (difference CFAS II—CFAS I: -3.9%, 95% CI: -7.6—0.0, p=0.04).’

The authors go on to say, “While these findings are mostly positive, we found an increase in the percentage of remaining years spent with disability for men and women with cognitive impairment. Given cognitive impairment was also the only long-term condition where prevalence decreased this is a cause for concern and requires further investigation.”