Women live longer than men, but experience a lower quality of life as they age

Women develop more health problems and diseases as they get older
It is well known that women generally live longer than men. While women's life expectancy is higher, their quality of life is worse because they suffer from more illnesses and disabilities as they grow older, researchers from the University of Michigan said.

Women have a higher life expectancy than men. However, researchers from the University of Michigan have now found in a study that women are ill more often in old age. Because of this, women's quality of life is worse when they get old. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "American Journal of Public Health".

Although women live longer than men, they have a lower quality of life and more health problems when they are older. (Image: Photographee.eu/fotolia.com)

Women are more likely to have disability in old age
For their study, the scientists examined the data from subjects who were all 65 years and older. Researchers sought to determine whether participants were limited by age-related illnesses or disabilities to perform various daily activities. Then the doctors observed the subjects in the next few years to determine the time of their death. The researchers found that between 1982 and 2011, the number of additional years living with women aged 65 rose from 18.5 to 20.5 years. More strikingly, 30 percent of women over the age of 65 had a 30 percent chance of a disability that they had to live with for the rest of their lives. This figure was the same for women in both 1982 and 2011, say the experts. In the case of men, on the other hand, the likelihood of disability after the age of 65 has decreased in recent decades. In 1982, the value was still at 22 percent. In 2011, the probability dropped to 19 percent, the researchers add.

Men have more healthy and active years of life in old age
The researchers considered it a health disability when subjects reported that health issues prevented them from carrying out their normal activities, such as eating, shopping, and getting out of bed. Although women live longer than men, they expect less active and healthy years, says lead author Professor Vicki A. Freedman of the University of Michigan. It was a surprise to see that men started outperforming women when it came to healthy and active old age, adds Professor Freedman. The reasons are probably very complex.

Women often lack the economic resources to maintain their health
Men and women certainly have different health conditions when they come to an older age. It may be possible that there has been greater progress in the treatment of heart disease and such diseases mostly affect men, say the doctors. Women are more likely to develop arthritis, a condition in which the treatment has not made so much medical progress. Another reason could be differences in the behavior of older adults. On the one hand, cigarette smoking in women has increased, while the number of smokers has decreased in recent decades. In addition, older women have on average less economic resources than men. Thus, women were not so well able to maintain their health in old age, explains Prof. Freedman.

Social and health systems urgently need to be strengthened
Older women are more likely to show disability because they live longer, regardless of health problems. As the population continues to age, and women generally live longer, this has a huge impact on women's quality of life. They get older and have a poor quality of life in their later years. In addition, they have neither the social nor the economic resources to cope with these problems, the researchers explain. In the future, therefore, there would urgently need to be sufficient social and health systems, such as assisted-living facilities, nursing homes and home-help programs, demand the physicians. We are still far from being able to provide such treatment to the elderly over the next 30 years. (As)