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Oh My Stars and Garters

Ladies, Don’t Panic, But Our Life Expectancy Rate Is Slowing Down

by Jamie Frevele | 12:55 pm, April 22nd, 2012


Okay, ladies, it’s time for something I like to call “Girl Talk.” And no, I’m not talking about our lady parts — I’m talking about our whole lady lives. A new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation says that while human life expectancy continues to grow, the growth rate for the life expectancy of women is slowing down and men might actually surpass us. Actually, our lifespans have been lagging for a while now, since 1999, and in some parts of the United States, it’s actually gotten lower. Life might not be a contest, but, um, we’re dying earlier than we used to, and that’s a major problem.

Here are the numbers: While women can still expect to outlive men by about four years, there is a trend of slowed growth in women’s life expectancies as compared to men. Data taken from a study that took place in various counties across the U.S. between 1989 and 2009 show that men’s life expectancy improved by an average of 4.6 years (to 66.1 to 81.6), but women’s life expectancy only improved by about 2.7 (73.5 to 86). In case you’re wondering, yes, those numbers should be equal, according to the director of the research team, Ali Mokdad, who adds:

“This is a wake-up call for all of us. It’s tragic that in a country as wealthy as the United States, and with all the medical expertise we have, that so many girls will live shorter lives than their mothers.”

In 661 counties, life expectancy for women either stopped improving or actually became worse, while only 166 counties reported similar trends for men. Where are some of these counties located, exactly? Declining lifespans for women were reported in “84% of Oklahoma counties, 58% of Tennessee counties and 33% of Georgia counties.”

While there are likely many, many factors as to why the health of women in these counties is causing them to die earlier and earlier (namely preventable conditions such as smoking, drinking, and obesity), the major factor is still the number one cause of death in America: heart disease. Women are simply not treated the same way men are, and their symptoms are often ignored. You know, because some doctors might write their symptoms off as just women being, ahem, “hysterical” and send them on their merry way, according to physician Gina Lundberg, also the national spokesperson for the American Heart Association.

“Women aren’t as encouraged by their doctors to get medication to ward off heart disease … And many doctors don’t treat their symptoms as aggressively as they do in men. They’ll say you have an upset stomach and send you home.”

Heart disease also affects women differently, even worse, than it does men, especially when women are smokers; Lundberg says that blockages in the heart progress more rapidly in women who smoke. Women are also more likely to die of a heart attack if they suffer one than men are.

Clearly, even more attention needs to be paid to women and heart disease, because it’s actually causing our gender’s life span to become shorter and shorter. The good news is that this lag can be remedied if we do follow through on creating awareness and providing education to people about conditions like heart disease. In other words, as pretty — and important — as pink can be, we should really be wearing a lot more red.

I know I said that life is not a contest — but do we really want to let the boys win this one? They’re gaining on us, ladies. Let’s take better care of ourselves!

(USA Today via Jezebel)

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  • Anonymous

    I don’t want to end up a complete invalid, incontinent with no memory or joy in life … so recon I’d like to go out at about 70, tops.  I don’t need those extra years, thanks.

  • Anonymous

    On this note, I wish our culture(s) had a healthier relationship with death. I mean, we have the ability and technology to CHOOSE to pass peacefully in our sleep. That’s kind of a neat thing… But it’s hella taboo.

    If someone is old and/or suffering, I believe it should be their right to choose whether or not to continue suffering… or call it quits in peace. I don’t think it’s right to “protect” people from themselves when it comes to assisted suicide. It’s disrespectful to the person making the decision.

    When I start getting up there, or if I get sick, I hope that option is available to me. I totally agree that I don’t need those extra years if they’re going to be horribly miserable.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/2CPPWAPGJVAZ7A2Z6MLZKXKIPE Anthony

    It’s not about age, it’s about how well you take care of yourself. For example, my grandfather is 73, he goes to the gym twice a week, watches what he eats, and is physically fit. He’s perfectly capable and builds houses for a living, even now. My grandmother, on the other hand, (who is 70) has been overweight most of her life, a smoker and has been sedentary for years, she suffers from ruined knees and bad ankles, and she can’t get around the house without a walker.

    As long as you eat right and keep yourself in good health, you’ll remain active and capable well into your 70′s. Hell, there are people that are centurions are still capable and independent.

  • Frodo Baggins

    “Women aren’t as encouraged by their doctors to get medication to ward off heart disease … And many doctors don’t treat their symptoms as aggressively as they do in men.”

    Uh… isn’t that because men are at a higher risk for heart disease?

  • Anonymous

     I don’t know if that’s true, so I won’t comment on that. However, even if it is true, I don’t think a woman’s treatment should be taken any less seriously than a man’s. If a woman looks like she’s going down the path to heart disease, what difference should it really make that, statistically speaking on a national scale, she has a better chance of not getting it?

  • Frodo Baggins

    According to this report: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/99/9/1165.full.pdf
    “Coronary heart disease incidence in men compared with women was 3 times higher and mortality was 5 times higher”

    Women’s risk increases more with age, but overall it’s still lower than men’s.

    This article addresses the question in medical ethics of how to distribute resources and services amongst people: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/resall.html

    “the common sense rule is to serve persons whose condition requires immediate attention and, if this attention is not given, will progress to a more serious state. ”

    A higher risk of disease and mortality constitutes an incidence of this principle. Not to say that providing more information for women is unnecessary–I’m all for increased health education–simply that there’s a non-misogynistic reason men get more warnings about heart disease.

  • Anonymous

    The CDC says heart disease is the number one killer among women as it is for men. Incidences among men are listed as 25.7%, and for women as 25.1%, and other studies say for both it’s now 1 in 4 will get heart disease. The report for women: http://www.cdc.gov/Women/lcod/ and for men: http://www.cdc.gov/men/lcod/index.htm

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R6ODYVHCB23JAQC33NPS5RLUN4 Kifre

    *My* grandfather (a doctor)  always used to say that the best way to live a long and health life was to choose one’s parents wisely.  No one can really argue against keeping one’s self in good health, but I think you’re severely discounting genetic pre-dispositions.  

  • Anonymous

    Women still live significantly longer than men, and overall our life spans are still increasing. A “declining rate of increase” still means lifespan is increasing.

    I really don’t see this as an issue we can attribute to gender discrimination, certainly not without stronger evidence, given that we still live longer than men do.  The stats look like excellent news to me – the thought that 20 years ago the average American man only lived to their mid-60s is almost scary (although I suspect it was more due to a higher death rate among young men than to elderly men having substantially worse health than elderly women).  The improvement is good to see.

  • http://www.facebook.com/maxwell.lachance Maxwell LaChance

    There are 661 countries?

  • Anonymous

    Counties, not countries.

  • Anonymous

    It’s also because the symptoms in women are different.  ”Classic symptoms” of heart disease are the symptoms most common in men; symptoms common in women are different and often misdiagnosed as panic attacks or stomach upsets.  Hence men may be more likely to get heart attacks, but women are more likely to die of them: 
    http://feministing.com/2012/02/23/for-women-heart-attacks-look-different-and-so-do-heart-health-outcomes/

  • Anonymous

     Yes, likewise my mother is 74 and physically fit and able, however is beginning a physical decline and it’s at that point in my life I’d like to start thinking about packing it all in.  I have been ill much of my life, so I don’t see myself making it nearly as far as she has.

  • Anonymous

    Just want to point out that those are incidents that lead to death – I don’t know what the actual number of cases is – it could be that men get it more often but it’s less fatal, or the other way around or some other combination.

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