Longevity Gap

From Menletter September 2007

By Tim Baehr

Here's a quote from a website called Second Opinion:

"As the first of the 75 million baby boomers touch 60 in January, there's good news for the men: They are catching up to women in life expectancy. A new 'Longevity Index' by Credit Suisse First Boston shows that while women still live four years longer on average, men are gaining twice as fast in the age race. Medical experts say women are working harder, smoking more and undergoing more stress, which leads to the No. 1 killer - heart disease. 'We are getting equality in ways we may not want,' said Dr. Sharon Brangman, a board member of the American Geriatrics Society. Women can now expect an average 82.6 years of life, the index shows, while men can look forward to 78.1 years.

But over the last 10 years, the average annual rate of improvement for men has been 2 percent; for women, it's slightly less than 1 percent, the index shows. While some male-dominated causes of death such as alcohol, drugs, firearms and AIDS have dropped in recent years, the biggest change has been in the toll taken by the traditional killers: heart disease and cancer. Men's lung cancer rates have been declining since 1990, while women's were rising, statistics show.

'Women started smoking seriously 25 years ago, and the lag time for this epidemic has kicked in,' said Dr. Michael Thun." (http://secondopinion.org/articles/8-womens-health/102-men-catching-up-to-women-in-life-expectancy.html)

Comment: Lest we feel too smug about our gaining on women in the so-called "age race," let's keep in mind the toxic environment we all live in. All of us, men and women, need to take better care of both ourselves and our physical and emotional environments.