The new research reveals why life expectancy profits have slowed across Europe-and how active policies in some countries have helped them overcome the COVID-19 crisis better than others.
Study: Change life expectancy in European countries 1990-2021: A Underneath Causes and Risk Factors by the Global Weight of Disease Study 2021. Credit Picture: Tomertu / Shutterstock
In a recent study published in Lancet’s public healthResearchers compared the trends of risk factors, causes of mortality and life expectancy in European countries before and during the Cory 2019 disease (COVID-19).
Life expectancy is a vital measure of population health and has increased since the 1900s in high -income countries. This increase could be attributed to progressive and preserved improvements in nutrition, infant mortality, infectious disease control and the standard of living. However, the increase in life expectancy has slowed since 2011 in all countries except Norway, and in some cases the slowdown was more intense. The slowdown was further exacerbated in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has led to high mortality rates, reducing life expectancy in many countries. These reductions have not even recovered and some areas still face excessive deaths after 2021. However, not all countries had equal reductions – while most saw a reduction, some, such as Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Norway and Denmark showed marginal improvement or stability in life expectancy. The COVID-19 pandemic may still have a prolonged effect on life expectancy by healthcare disorders and after the bell -9 conditions.
For the study
In the present study, the researchers compared the trends of risk factors, life expectancy and causes of death in European countries before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. They used data from the global weight of the Disease Study (GBD) 2021. Life expectancy, SEVS prices for risk factors and deaths attributed to specific risk factors were assessed for the 16 founding countries of the European Economic region (EEA ) and four United Kingdom (United Kingdom) nations.
The researchers compared three periods: 1990-2011, 2011-19 and 2019-21. They appreciated the average annual life expectancy changes for these periods. Life expectancy was appreciated at birth, overall, and with the decay by the cause of death. Life expectancy at birth was the average number of newborn years who could expect to live if they pass through the life exposed to prevailing age-and gender mortality rates.
Jointpoint reflux models were used to assess the year with a comprehensive slowdown in life expectancy. The mortality rates associated with the cause of 288 causes were calculated using a tool developed by GBD. Changes in life expectancy were attributed to changes in mortality causes for each period to determine the contribution of changes to specific causes of death in slowing life profits.
In addition, the life expectancy with disintegration by the cause of death was used to assess the contributions from specific causes. GBD 2021 has created epidemiological estimates for 88 risk factors and the SEVs were appreciated for each risk factor. SEV represented the prevalence of the exposure. The medium rates of mortality based on the age attributed to important risk factors were calculated.
Life expectancy at birth for both sexes in combination, from 1990 to 2021 by country, ordered by 2019 life expectancy
Findings
Researchers have observed steady life expectancy profits for at least two decades by 2011, when there was a significant change for all countries except Norway. All countries had annual profits in life expectancy during 1990-2011 and 2011-19, but there was significant heterogeneity among the countries. The percentage of life expectancy profits was lower during 2011-19 than before for all countries except Norway. England showed the highest decrease in the rate of improvement between these two periods, while Iceland had the lowest decline.
During 2019-21, life expectancy declined in most countries, but some (Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark) saw marginal improvement or no change. The highest reductions in life expectancy were observed in Greece in England and other UK nations. The causes of death representing the highest life expectancy between 1990 and 2011 were neoplasms and cardiovascular disease (CVDS).
The countries in which the life profits attributed to these reasons were similar from 1990-2011 to 2011-19 were also the countries with the best improvements between these periods: Sweden, Iceland, Belgium, Norway And Denmark. In addition, these countries maintained or slightly improved life expectancy during 2019-21. On the contrary, the UK nations, Italy and Greece, which had the highest slowdown in life expectancy prior to Covid-19, experienced the largest drops in 2019-21.
During this time, in countries with life expectancy it decreases, the decrease is due to the deaths of respiratory infections and the results associated with COVID-19. However, in Ireland and Sweden, despite having a large number of respiratory deaths, overall life expectancy has been improved due to fewer neoplasms and CVD deaths.
The leading specialist risk factors for CVDs in 2019 were increased systolic blood pressure (SBP), increased low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) and dietary risks. For neoplasms, the leading risk factors were nutritional risks, professional risks and smoking smoking. Important risk factors for both neoplasms and CVDs included dietary risks, smoking, high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), high body mass index (BMI), low physical activity, air pollution and other environmental risks.
However, these risk factors have shown divergent trends:
- Smoking rates have firmly reduced in all countries.
- The BMI has steadily increased in all nations during the study period.
- Improvements in high SBP and LDL cholesterol have destroyed or even reversed after 2011 in many countries.
- The dietary risks and low physical activity remained high.
Changes in life expectancy at birth for both sexes in combination, by country and cause of death from 2019 to 2021, ordered to the life expectancy of 2019. Compact vertical black rods show life expectancy in 2019 for each Country and dashed vertical black bars show life expectancy in 2021. Causes of death. Any colored bars on the left of the 2019 line represent chronic deterioration of life expectancy attributed to specific causes of death between 2019 and 2021.
Conclusions
In short, all countries, except for Norway, faced reductions in life expectancy after 2011. The deceleration rate varies, with some countries manage to maintain improvements better than others. Improvements in CVD deaths and neoplasms, as well as improvements in high SBP and LDL cholesterol, have essentially slowed after 2011. On the contrary, the high BMI increased steadily in three decades and other risks remained increased in most nations.
There were significant international differences in life expectancy profits, with Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark continuing to show progress after 2011 and during the pandemic. These countries have implemented policies that have helped to maintain CVD mortality reductions and neoplasms, possibly mitigating the impact of COVID-19.
Life trends are linked to long -term policy interventions, indicating that governments can affect longevity through policy options, such as reducing nutritional risk, ensuring access to healthcare and dealing with commercial decisive health factors. For example, Norway has a long history of fiscal measures to reduce sugar consumption and the Belgian national cancer plan underlined prevention and timely treatment, helping to maintain profits in life expectancy. On the contrary, public health funding cuts in the United Kingdom after 2010 probably contributed to stagnant life expectancy.
The study emphasizes the importance of public health preventive policies not only for improving life expectancy but also for building future health resistance.
