Contribution of Behavioral Factors and Chronic Diseases to International Differences in Healthy Life Expectancy

项目摘要 随着高收入国家预期寿命的近乎线性增长， 多活几年是否健康的问题是一个关键问题。这 该项目将开发适当的技术来调查健康的决定因素 预期寿命(HLE)和不健康预期寿命(ULE)。然后我们将评估 三种行为因素的单独和共同作用--吸烟， 在美国和欧洲，肥胖、饮酒对HLE和ULE的影响。我们将重点放在 这三个因素在确定国家和地区内的低收入和低收入水平方面的作用 它们在解释各国之间的差异方面所起的作用。跨国研究的一个目标 是为了更好地了解美国人的健康和寿命相对于其他高寿命国家的差距 收入国家。我们将进一步确定最重要的慢性病 在行为因素与健康预期(HLE)关系中的中介作用 和ULE)。我们采用并将传播的方法可以用来研究 HLE和ULE的更广泛的决定因素在未来的研究中。

Project Summary With the near linear increase in life expectancy experienced by high-income countries, the question of whether the extra years of life are healthy or not is a key concern. This project will develop appropriate techniques to investigate the determinants of healthy life expectancy (HLE) and unhealthy life expectancy (ULE). We will then evaluate the individual and joint contributions of three behavioral factors—cigarette smoking, obesity, alcohol use—to HLE and ULE in the United States and Europe. We focus on the role of these three factors in determining levels of HLE and ULE within countries and their role in explaining differences across countries. A goal in the cross-national studies is to better understand the shortfall in U.S. health and longevity relative to other high- income countries. We further will identify the chronic diseases that are most important in mediating the relationship between behavioral factors and health expectancies (HLE and ULE). The methods that we employ and will disseminate can be used to study a wider set of determinants of HLE and ULE in future studies.