Healthcare discounts to thin non-smokers

Disabilities plague longer livesBy Adam Cresswell
September 01, 2006 12:00am

THE average Australian man can now expect to spend 5.4 years of his life with a severe disability, needing help to perform the most basic tasks such as washing or going to the toilet.

The latest Australian life expectancy figures, released today, show that while overall life expectancy has again risen, the average man will also spend almost two decades - or 18.6 years - with a lesser disability.

These include sight, hearing or speech difficulties, restricted use of feet or legs, difficulty holding or gripping objects, or any of a range of conditions that restrict everyday activities, such as recurrent pain, shortness of breath or emotional problems.

For the average woman the picture is even worse - 8.3 years of her life will be spent with a severe disability and 20.7 years with a lesser handicap.

The years of disability faced by men and women identified in the report, released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, reflect the situation in 2003 and are increases on the levels found in the previous 1998 survey.

For men, the expected years with a disability rose 0.7 years and for severe disability rose 0.2 years, while for women the increases were steeper - 1.2 and 0.6 years respectively.

Report author Xingyan Wen, who wrote the report - Life Expectancy and Disability in Australia 1998-2003 - for the institute, said the results showed there were two sides to health improvements brought by better medical treatments and higher standards of living.

"As people are living longer, they are living a greater part of their life with a disability," Dr Wen said.

"The ageing of the Australian population and the greater longevity of individuals are leading to more people, especially those at older ages, with a disability."

But the gloomy news was tempered by improvements elsewhere. Life expectancy at birth increased for males from 75.9 years in the 1998 survey to 77.8 in today's figures - an average extra 1.9 years of life.

For women the increase was not as great, rising 1.3 years from 81.5 to 82.8.

People already at the age of 65 also had increases in their likely remaining lifespan. For men aged 65, life expectancy rose from a further 16.1 years to 17.6 ) and for women aged 65 life expectancy rose from a further 19.8 years to 21.

Men and women, both at birth and at age 65, had increases in the number of years they could expect to live either free of any disability or free of a severe disability.

Men in 2003 could expect to live 59.1 years without any disability (up from 58 years in 1998) and women could look forward to 62.2 years (up from 62.1).

Dr Wen said the findings appeared to pour cold water on the theory among some experts that better healthcare would have ill health compressed into a shorter period at the end of the lifespan.

"It's a two-way story," he said.

"Although life expectancy has increased, that has been accompanied by more years with disability and without disability."

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From ABC, September 1, 2006
Disability rates rising as Australians live longer

Australians are on average healthier and living longer than ever before, but a new report shows the extra years gained may be troublesome for people's health.
The research, published today by the Institute of Health and Welfare, says long life will create challenges for health authorities because more people will get disabilities in later life.
Australians are living up to two years longer than they were in 1988, but for women only six weeks will be spent free of a disability.
The report examines changes in life expectancy and quality of life between 1988 and 2003.
On average, non-Indigenous men have gained two years of life and those born in 2003 can expect to live to 77.
Women continue to live longer, but their gain is only one year.
Females born in the early years of this century can expect to live to 82 years of age.
But the Institute of Health and Welfare report found up to 20 of those years will be spent living with a disability.
About one-third of that time will be particularly difficult, with the disability considered severe.
Australian Association of Gerontologists president Tony Broe says it is not good news.
"The prospect is that we'll be able to tackle some of the disability we're seeing," he said.
"But it's not great news for those who are getting into their late old age."
Professor Broe says although there have been medical advances in preventing and controlling many diseases throughout the lifespan, there has not been the same success in tackling disabilities in older age.
"We certainly must be getting healthier because the incidence of the fatal diseases is dropping in every area - heart, lungs, kidney - all of those are dropping in the non-Indigenous community," he said.
"But it doesn't seem to be accompanied by a compression or a reduction in disability.
"That might be the way we measure it, in part, but it looks as though we're living longer but with the same level of disability, not a markedly increased level."
Professor Broe says these figures could actually be worse than they appear for the very elderly age group.
"Because the ABS data, as I understand it, is based on self-report," he said.
"The biggest cause of disability in people over 80, 85, is what we call the neuro-degenerative brain diseases, or loss of the ability to reason and understand and work out what's wrong with you.
"So these people tend to drop out of surveys. So it might slightly underestimate the high end, but I don't think it'd be enormous."
Professor Broe says the report's findings means policy makers must examine what is going to happen over the next 20 years before the baby boomers reach their late 70s and 80s and disability levels become very high.
"I don't think they've grasped the concept that in 2050, we'll have 1.3 million people over 85," he said.
"And if ABS disability levels have underestimated their brain problems, this really needs dramatic attention to the neuro-degenerative disorders of ageing."

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Australians are living up to two years longer than they were in 1988, but for women only six weeks will be spent free of a disability.

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Happy said:

Similar to article above, both have another good reason to be as healthy as long as possible, so we are not a burden to society.

From article above one sentence stands out -


Another good reason to be as healthy as long as possible, so we are not a burden to society

One day it will get to the point that we will be not able to run the country, as too many will be busy looking after people with severe disabilities.

At that stage quite possibly choices will have to be made.

If we look after our health we might be able to push this day forward, or with bit of luck not have at all.

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Julia said:

Perhaps when that stage is reached the advocates of voluntary euthanasia might realise their wish.

Julia

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From ABC, September 25, 2006
Avoidable deaths statistics 'disappointing'

A report from the University of Adelaide shows that more than 70 per cent of Australians aged up to 75 years die from avoidable causes.
The top three causes of avoidable deaths in 2001 were heart disease, lung cancer and suicide.
The report says that if cigarette smoking was reduced, 10 people instead of 34 would die each day from lung cancer.
The head of the university's Public Health Information Unit, John Glover, says the figures are disappointing.
"The things that come through most strongly to me are the very large number of deaths before the age of 75 that could be avoided in Australia given the current level of social conditions, the economy and the health technologies and what we know about many of the risk factors," he said.
He says people must take more responsibility for their health.
"There's areas of improvement which are to do with individual behaviours certainly around smoking, around diet and nutrition," Mr Glover said.
"But also it's something that the Government has to address in terms of the overall social conditions in which we exist."


Indigenous Australians

The report also found the death rate for Indigenous Australians from avoidable causes is almost four times that of the non-Indigenous population.
Most avoidable deaths in 2001 within the Aboriginal population were from heart disease and diabetes.
Mr Glover says Indigenous Australians generally have poorer health.
"It's a whole matter of what is behind the people's lifestyles, what's behind their particular focus in life, their cultural difficulties that they face, the isolation, remoteness affecting fresh fruit and vegetables," he said.
"So there's many areas in which Government can influence things and assist as well as the individual taking responsibility."

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