Americans are living longer, becoming more health-conscious and yet more chronically ill, all at the same time, according to the National Center for Health Statistics annual report of the nation’s health.
Overall life expectancy in the United States in 2001 was 77.2 years, an increase of nearly four months from 2000, when it was 76.9 years. In 1900, a newborn American could expect to live 47.3 years. In 1950, life expectancy had grown to 68.2 years.
Life expectancy for women was more than five years longer than for men — 79.8 years compared with 74.4 years — in 2001, according to the report. In 1990, the difference was seven years. The gap in life expectancy between blacks and whites narrowed a similar amount over the same period, with whites living 5 1/2years longer.
In addition to living longer, people were spending more on health care.
In 2001, health care spending in the United States was $1.4 trillion, up 8.7 percent from 2000. That increase was bigger than the 7.4 percent increase from 1999 to 2000.
There were also trends of worsening health.
The percentage of children classified as overweight increased from 7 percent in the late 1970s to 15 percent in the late 1990s.
Perhaps the most significant trend is the rise in diabetes, which in 2002 afflicted 6.5 percent of adults. In 1997, 5.3 percent had the disease.
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