Study: Life span for some American women is shrinking
The latest research found that women age 75 and younger are dying at higher rates than previous years in nearly half of the nation’s counties — many of them rural and in the South and West. Curiously, for men, life expectancy has held steady or improved in nearly all counties.
The study is the latest to spot this pattern, especially among disadvantaged white women. Some leading theories blame higher smoking rates, obesity and less education, but several experts said they simply don’t know why.
Women have long outlived men, and the latest numbers show the average life span for a baby girl born today is 81, and for a baby boy, it’s 76. But the gap has been narrowing and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown women’s longevity is not growing at the same pace as men’s.
The phenomenon of some women losing ground appears to have begun in the late 1980s, though studies have begun to spotlight it only in the last few years.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
There may be a few brave souls who will venture to dig out the truth. My guess is that the answers will be too politically incorrect to discuss. Feminism, no-fault divorce, people shacking up, single moms. The weakening of the support system of family, church and community. A lot of new stresses introduced and a lot of stress-reducing behaviors decreased.
While at Yahoo I noticed another column, “A new study found a small but statistically significant increase in the number of younger women with advanced-stage breast cancer.” I don’t expect to see a lot of publications on the connection between abortion and breast cancer. That’s another politically incorrect story.
INC on March 5, 2013 at 10:32 PM
Abortion is bad for you health.
jawkneemusic on March 5, 2013 at 10:42 PM
Aren’t certain birth controls linked to cancer as well?
jawkneemusic on March 5, 2013 at 10:44 PM
Yes. I believe the pill in its stronger forms was (may be still, but I’m not up on it), and I think morning after pills are intense overloads of hormones. That’s not good for your body.
INC on March 5, 2013 at 10:56 PM
That’s not to overlook the death they bring to an unborn baby—the point above was that the mom is harming herself.
INC on March 5, 2013 at 11:00 PM
They wanted equality, right? You go, girl!
Yup. But worse, certain causes will simply not be considered. For instance, the pill is simply too important to too many constituencies (and companies); therefore, it cannot be a contributing factor. And God forbid we consider the notion that pregnancy and childbirth (i.e., what women’s bodies were designed to do) increase longevity — heads would explode.
Splashman on March 6, 2013 at 3:56 AM
It is a very small change relating to women under 75; i.e. premature deaths have increased a small but measurable amount among rural white women. Rather than abortion and birth control, the biggest change since the 1980s is obesity. There are many more obese women today than in the 1980s. This leads to higher rates of heart disease and other health problems.
Ted Torgerson on March 6, 2013 at 7:04 AM
Do women know about shrinkage?
(Someone had to say it.)
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on March 6, 2013 at 7:11 AM
It’s because of the Rethuglican War on Women!!!!1!11!!ONE!1!!!
fossten on March 6, 2013 at 7:43 AM
The study showed life expectancy INCREASING overall, but in 43% of counties it decreased. So 43% of the counties fared worse than average… sounds like what you would expect in a normal distribution (except in Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average). Another nothing study? What am I missing here?
topdog on March 6, 2013 at 8:20 AM
There’s been an unfair separation of life expectancy between men and women for years. Women need to live shorter lives for the sake of progressive fairness.
forest on March 6, 2013 at 8:25 AM
I don’t need to live past 76. And 81 is a fine time to die. Though I’m probably missing the point.
Paul-Cincy on March 6, 2013 at 8:31 AM
I believe this is linked to binge drinking, too. We’ve raised a bunch of party girls who get drunk and fluke with abandon. Sadly, there are bad consequences.
Fallon on March 6, 2013 at 8:45 AM
Note the hysteria over the 80-something woman who died in an assisted care center. Do CPR! Don’t let her die! People really think we can cheat death. We can’t. It comes for all of us.
Fallon on March 6, 2013 at 8:48 AM
The hysteria gets 1000x worse when it comes to letting someone who literally has had their brain turned to mush by an accident and now has less cognitive ability than a cricket.
Lost in the last “EEK! Murder! Evil gubbamint deth panelz!1!1!” frenzy and the media circus the last time that happened was the fact that decisions like this are made every !@#%ing day in old-folks’ homes and vegetable farms nationwide.
MelonCollie on March 6, 2013 at 9:41 AM