Gap in Life Expectancy Between Women in Poor Versus Rich Countries Widening

The gap in life expectancy between women in higher versus lower income countries is widening, according to a recent study carried out by the World Health Organization.

Published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, the report cites cardiovascular disease and cancers as the leading cause of death of women aged 50 or older, but warns that these deaths are occurring at earlier ages among women in poorer nations.

For example, 50-year-old women living in nations such as Germany and Japan have gained 3.5 years in life expectancy over the last 20 to 30 years and can expect to live to 84 and 88 years respectively as a result of improvements in treating noncommunicable diseases.

Meanwhile, in France, the United Kingdom and Chile, the life expectancy of 50-year-old women has increased by about 2.5 years to 36.7, 34.4 and 34.3 years, extending the average lifespan to 83 or 84 years old.

In Mexico and the Russian Federation, however, the life expectancy of 50-year-old women increased more slowly, by 2.4 and 1.2 years, placing life expectancy at 80 and 78 years, according to the study.

"Given the substantial reduction in maternal mortality and the increase in the number of older women over the last 10 years, health systems in low- and middle-income countries must adjust accordingly, otherwise this trend will continue to increase," said Dr. John Beard, director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Department of Ageing and Life Course and one of the authors of the study.

According to Beard and his colleagues, the study, which is among the first to analyze the cause of death in women 50 years old and older from a wide range of countries, points to a need for increased prevention, detection and treatment of noncommunicable diseases in many nations.

"Changing women's exposures at earlier stages of their lives, particularly in relation to sexual health, tobacco and harmful use of alcohol, is essential to reversing the epidemic of chronic diseases," Beard said.

Doing so, Beard said, is best done through an expansion on healthcare services that arealdy exist.

"So, for example, maternal health care services can provide proper detection and management of gestational diabetes to help prevent mothers from becoming overweight or diabetic later in life," he said.