←back to thread

Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 30 years to prove

(www.nature.com)
201 points andsoitis | 3 comments | 15 Oct 24 13:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.449s | source
Show context
defrost ◴[16 Oct 24 00:22 UTC] No.41854450[source]▶
For an interesting side piece:

    Curiously, however, for a system apparently stultified by the dead hand of government, Australia’s health system far outperforms the free market-based US healthcare system, which spends nearly twice as much per capita as Australia to deliver far worse outcomes — including Americans dying five years younger than us.
The shocking truth: Australia has a world-leading health system — because of governments

Source: https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/10/16/pubic-private-healthcar...

Bypass: https://clearthis.page/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.crikey.com.au%2F...

    Overall, we now have the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world.

   This is contrary to the narrative that pervades the media about our health system — one in which our “frontline” health workers heroically battle to overcome government neglect and inadequate spending, while the population is beset by various “epidemics” — obesity, alcohol, illicit drugs.

    In fact, Australian longevity is so remarkable that in August The Economist published a piece simply titled “Why do Australians live so long?”
Other references:

The Economist: https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/08/23/why-do-a...

AU Gov Report: Advances in measuring healthcare productivity https://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/measuring-healthcar...

replies(14): >>41854605 #>>41854613 #>>41854799 #>>41855053 #>>41855120 #>>41855218 #>>41855732 #>>41856242 #>>41856326 #>>41857738 #>>41857930 #>>41857960 #>>41858153 #>>41876405 #
zeroonetwothree ◴[16 Oct 24 07:02 UTC] No.41856326[source]▶
I expect it has more to do with Americans’ high level of obesity and other poor lifestyle factors.
replies(2): >>41856379 #>>41857057 #
Pikamander2 ◴[16 Oct 24 09:08 UTC] No.41857057[source]▶
Obesity's definitely a factor, but other developed countries haven't seen the same level of stagnation despite their own skyrocketing obesity rates. For that matter, Americans also smoke less compared to most of Europe.

There's likely at least one other major factor, and I would assume that it's some variation of "inability to access high-quality care for financial reasons" given how much of a wealth disparity there is in various healthcare outcomes.

replies(1): >>41858408 #
1. apwell23 ◴[16 Oct 24 12:42 UTC] No.41858408[source]▶

  Older age groups are also less likely to die from chronic diseases such as circulatory problems and heart disease. Cancer mortality rates are lower in Australia than they are in all other Anglophone countries
So you get less cancer because you have 'access high quality healthcare' ? how does that work?

  wealth disparity there is in various healthcare outcomes.
Wealthy have access to good food. have less stress and engage in mental and physical recreation more and ofcourse regular screenings.

Why would it depend just on one factor like hospital access?

replies(2): >>41859451 #>>41866834 #
2. zwirbl ◴[16 Oct 24 14:30 UTC] No.41859451[source]▶
Cancer mortality is not the same as incidence, you can plausibly have more cancer while still having a lower mortality
3. verzali ◴[17 Oct 24 06:02 UTC] No.41866834[source]▶
Plausibly you can get less cancer by encouraging people to stop smoking, drink less, be less exposured to known carcinogens (either by awareness or regulation). A good healthcare system can also mean you catch cancers early or treat them earlier.