American Medical Association finds people in US are sick for an average of 12.4 years, an increase from figure in 2000

Summary

A new American Medical Association study shows that Americans live with diseases for an average of 12.4 years, up from 10.9 years in 2000, marking a 29% higher gap than the global average.

Mental health, substance-use disorders, and musculoskeletal diseases are key contributors.

Women in the U.S. have a larger healthspan-lifespan gap than men, with 13.7 years spent sick compared to 11.1 years for men.

The study reflects a global trend of people living longer but spending more years burdened by disease, with the U.S. leading other high-income nations in this gap.

  • paysrenttobirdsEnglish
    4·
    5 hours ago

    I’m not sure what this article is saying and I’m not sure even the article knows what it’s saying. Here is from the published study:

    The largest healthspan-lifespan gaps were observed in the US (12.4 years), Australia (12.1 years), New Zealand (11.8 years), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (11.3 years), and Norway (11.2 years) (eTable 2 in Supplement 1). The smallest healthspan-lifespan gaps were observed in Lesotho (6.5 years), Central African Republic (6.7 years), Somalia (6.8 years), Kirbati (6.8 years), and Micronesia (7.0 years) (eTable 2 in Supplement 1)

    What I think I can take away from reading the study is that people in richer countries live longer especially when sick; and, among rich nations, a major factor in the slightly higher unhealthy years in the US is the length of time people spend addicted to drugs.