Life Expectancy for Men in the US is Six Years Lower than for Women
New research from UC San Francisco and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health highlights a widening gender gap in life expectancy in the United States. This trend, present for over a decade, grew notably due to factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid crisis.
Published in JAMA Internal Medicine on November 13, 2023, the study found that American men now live 5.8 years less than women, the largest disparity since 1996, which stood at 4.8 years in 2010, marking the smallest gap in recent years.
US men’s life expectancy lags behind women by six years: the pandemic
The recent increase in the gap is primarily attributed to the pandemic, particularly affecting men from 2019 to 2021, followed by incidents of accidental injuries, poisonings (mainly drug overdoses), and suicides.
Dr. Brandon Yan, the lead author of the paper and a UCSF resident physician, noted the lack of systematic analysis on the reasons for this widening gap post-2010 despite extensive research on the overall decline in life expectancy.
Life expectancy in the U.S. dipped to 76.1 years in 2021, a decline from 78.8 in 2019 and 77 in 2020. This reduction in lifespan has been associated, in part, with “deaths of despair” – a term encompassing increased fatalities linked to economic hardship, depression, stress, and causes like suicide, substance abuse disorders, and alcoholic liver disease.
Rates of death due to drug overdose and homicide have risen for both genders, yet there’s a noticeable shift wherein men make up an increasingly disproportionate segment of these fatalities,” noted Yan.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak
Analyzing data from the National Center for Health Statistics, Yan and a team of researchers nationwide pinpointed the key causes of mortality impacting life expectancy. They then assessed the impact of these causes on men and women to gauge their contribution to the gender gap.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, major contributors included unintentional injuries, diabetes, suicide, homicide, and heart disease.
However, during the pandemic, men were notably more vulnerable to succumbing to the virus. Various factors, including diverse health behaviors and social circumstances like work-related exposure risks, reluctance to seek medical help, incarceration, and housing instability, accounted for this discrepancy. Chronic metabolic conditions, mental health issues, and gun violence also played roles.
The findings underscore the need for specialized care tailored to men, especially in mental health, to counteract the widening life expectancy gap, according to Yan. “We’ve highlighted concerning patterns that need attention,” he remarked. “Future research should aim to steer public health strategies in reversing this downward trend in life expectancy.”
Yan, alongside co-authors including Howard Koh, MD, MPH, professor at Harvard Chan School, emphasized the necessity for ongoing analysis post-2021 to monitor these trends post-pandemic. “As the pandemic ebbs, it’s crucial to closely monitor these patterns and make substantial investments in prevention and healthcare to prevent entrenched disparities,” Koh urged.
Read the original article on sciencedaily.
Source: Brandon W. Yan, Elizabeth Arias, Alan C. Geller, Donald R. Miller, Kenneth D. Kochanek, Howard K. Koh. Widening Gender Gap in Life Expectancy in the US, 2010-2021. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2023; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.6041
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