Community characteristics may affect life span
24 March, 2020
A team of researchers has discovered that community characteristics may have associations with people’s life span.
The study, appearing in the journal Social Science & Medicine, suggests that authorities should consider taking these community characteristics, as well as other well-known predictors of life span, into consideration when coming up with policy.
Relative decline in life span
Based on the study, life span in america had been increasing because the 1980s, as in many other areas of the world. However, in 2016, it commenced a 2-year decline - the first time this had happened since 1962-63.
While, in absolute terms, U.S. authorities predict life expectancy to grow during the next 40 years, they expect it to do so at a much slower rate than other countries.
If predictions are accurate, the U.S. will drop 21 spots in global life span rankings from its current position of 43rd to 64th, meaning you will have a member of family decline in life span.
In addition to this, life expectancy varies drastically from region to region in america, ranging from 56 to 97 years.
Understanding the factors for this relative decline in life span, as well as the major variations in the united states, is vital for policymakers.
Life expectancy factors
Various individual medical issues affect longevity, such as for example high degrees of smoking, low degrees of exercise, and high degrees of obesity. The research in the present study supported these findings.
Many other factors affect life span, such as income inequality.
These factors have complex relationships. For example, there are differences in mortality associated with gender; one study discovered that state-level factors may affect more women than men.
Dr. Elizabeth Dobis, a postdoctoral scholar at the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, Pennsylvania, may be the lead author of the analysis.
She says, “American life expectancy recently declined for the very first time in decades, and we wanted to explore the factors adding to this decline. Due to regional variation in life expectancy, we knew community-level factors must matter.
“By analyzing place-based factors alongside personal factors, we were able to draw several conclusions about which community characteristics contribute most strongly to the variation in life span.”
Key community characteristics
Today's study focused on how the characteristics of a community, instead of individual traits, may affect life span. It drew on data from 3,000 U.S. counties, looking at the variations in life span from a 1980 baseline to 2014.
The researchers developed a statistical methodology to account for the many confounding factors that could also affect life span. They tried to provide as clear an image as possible about the precise effect these community characteristics may have.
Although there is a clear relationship between life span in 1980 compared with 2014, there were some unpredicted variations.
In Dr. Dobis’ words, “Whenever we controlled for historical life span, we found three additional community factors that all exert a substantial adverse effect - a lot more junk food restaurants, higher population density, and a larger share of jobs in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.
“For example, for each and every one percentage point upsurge in the number of junk food restaurants in a county, life expectancy declined by .004 years for men and .006 years for women.”
Conversely, the study found that greater access to healthcare, a population that's increasing in proportions, and high degrees of social cohesion were all associated with higher life expectancies.
Stephan Groatz, professor of Agricultural and Regional Economics at Penn State, and a co-author of the analysis, comments on the findings.
“Places with residents who stick together more on a community or social level also may actually do an improved […] job of helping people, generally, live longer.”
- Prof. Stephan Groatz
However, there are limits to the study’s findings. As the study makes clear associations between community characteristics and life span, it isn't necessarily clear why or how these affect longevity, neither is it clear how they could interact with other factors.
And from an insurance plan perspective, understanding specific community characteristics could be helpful. Still, policymakers have to understand larger trends and factors if they want to avoid the continued decline of life span.
Nonetheless, the analysis lays the groundwork for future research, highlighting some factors that researchers should analyze in greater detail.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com