WUNRN
UK - Alarm
over Sudden Drop in Female Life Expectancy
Official
statistics show a drop in life expectancy for female pensioners, which experts
say could be linked to cutbacks in care and lifestyle habits of baby boomers
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New figures show female life
expectancy has fallen since 2011 Photo: PA
By Laura Donnelly, Health
Editor – 6 April 2015
Life
expectancy for women has suffered a drop on a scale not seen for decades, as
their lifestyles become more like those of men, official figures show.
In 2012
there were falls in average life expectancy for females in their 60s, 70s, 80s
and 90s, new figures show.
A drop in
all such age groups had not been seen since 1995.
It means
the average woman aged 75 can expect to live 13.1 years; five weeks less than
in 2011.
For a
woman aged 85, average life expectancy is now 6.8 years - a fall of two and a
half months, in two years.
Experts
said the trend could be the result of changes in the lifestyles of the “baby
boomer” generation, with older women more likely to drink regularly, and to
have smoked, than previous generations.
Charities
also raised concern that older people are having their lives cut short by
reductions in social care spending and poor standards in care homes.
Meanwhile,
increases among men in their 60s and 70s stalled, the statistics show, while
life expectancy reduced among older men.
The
deteriorating picture disclosed in a report by health officials follows three
decades which have seen annual average life expectancy increases of 1.2 per
cent for men and 0.7 per cent for women.
Prof John
Ashton, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said the fall in women’s
life expectancy might reflect changes in the lifestyles of the baby boomer
generation, which were taking their toll decades later.
“One of
the issues we have seen is women living lifestyle’s becoming more like those of
men over recent decades, with more smoking and drinking,” he said.
He said
he was also concerned that the falls could reflect cutbacks in social care,
which he said had been “hammered” in recent years.
“I think
there has been a failure of successive governments here, in that we should have
seen that trends were changing, that more people would be living longer and we
needed to put services in place to look after them,” Prof Ashton said.
Caroline
Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “This decrease in life expectancy,
after many years of improvement, is like 'the canary in the coal mine': it is
telling us that something has changed for the worse, so that fewer people are
thriving in later life than they could or should.”
“The most
obvious likely culprit is the rapid decline of state-funded social care in
recent years, which is leaving hundreds of thousands of older people to
struggle on alone at home without any help.”
She
called on the next Government to take urgent action to support the elderly, and
avoid the downturn becoming the start of a “terrible trend."
The
Public Health England report, Recent Trends in Life Expectancy at Older Ages,
shows that in 2012, female life expectancy suddenly fell for all age bands over
the age of 65, with drops for women aged 65, 75, 85 and 95.
The
decline in life expectancy for women in their 60s was the first decline seen
since 1995 while the drop among those in their 70s had not been seen for nine
years.
While the
figures for women in their 60s have since recovered to their 2011 levels, the
statistics for women in their 70s, 80s and 90s remain worse, the figures show.
Meanwhile,
after years of continued improvements in life expectancy for men, progress
stalled - and in some age groups, declined.
Among men
aged 65 and 75, life expectancy has remained static for two years, while for
men of 85 and 95 it has fallen, the report shows.
Health
officials said they would need a third year’s data to establish whether the
figures from 2012 and 2013 mean life expectancy is levelling off or entering a
more worrying decline.
The
report suggests the impact of the economic recession could be one reason why
similar trends occurred in several European countries.
The
changes in 2011 and 2012 follow continued improvements in life expectancy in
recent decades.
Overall,
a 65 year old man in the UK can now expect to live 18.5 years – almost five and
a half more years than three decades ago. A woman of the same age can expect 21
more years – a gain of almost four years in the last 30 years.
Men of 75
can now expect to live 11.3 years, with 13.1 years for women, while at 85, men
can expect 5.8 more years, and women 6.8 more years.
The
changes means average life expectancy for a women of 85 is now two and a half
months shorter than in 2011, while a man of the same age could expect to live
five weeks less.
The
statistics follow NHS figures which show that show alcohol-related hospital
admissions among men and women in their 60s have tripled in a decade.
Latest
figures show lung cancer has overtaken breast cancer as the most deadly form of
the disease among women, with 16,000 deaths from lung cancer each year compared
with 12,000 from breast cancer.
The rise
in lung cancer is attributed to the rise in young women taking up smoking the late 1960s and
1970s.
How life
expectancy has changed since 2011
Figures show the number of years
expected to live, at each age
Women |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
Aged 65 |
21.0 |
20.9 |
21 |
Aged 75 |
13.2 |
13 |
13.1 |
Aged 85 |
7 |
6.8 |
6.8 |
Aged 95 |
3.3 |
3.2 |
3.2 |
Men |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
Aged 65 |
18.5 |
18.5 |
18.5 |
Aged 75 |
11.3 |
11.3 |
11.3 |
Aged 85 |
5.9 |
5.8 |
5.8 |
Aged 95 |
2.9 |
2.8 |
2.8 |
Source: Public Health England analysis of data from Office for National Statistics