Gaps in life expectancy between rich and poor set to increase over next 10 years

Recession and slow economic growth to blame

2012-12-05

(Press-News.org) Health inequalities between England's richest and poorest areas have widened in the ten years between 1999 and 2008. Researchers warn, in a study published today on bmj.com, that over the next ten years, we may experience smaller increases in life expectancy than in the past decade and health inequalities may rise at an even faster rate.

Studies have shown that economic decline is associated with long term negative health impacts and the current climate has raised concerns about this. Between 1999 and 2008 the target (set by the government) for reducing the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor had not been met and had in fact widened.

Researchers from the University of Liverpool wanted to explore the effect of changes in economic conditions on changes in life expectancy in local authorities (LAs) over a period of ten years of rising prosperity in England (1999 – 2008). They wanted to know if LAs that saw the greatest improvement in socioeconomic conditions experienced the greatest rises in life expectancy. They also looked at the extent to which this influenced health inequalities between LAs, and explored the implications for proposed financial incentives to local authorities based upon their "performance" in improving health.

They took data from 324 LAs in England and other data from the NHS information centre and the Office for National Statistics. The main outcome was change in life expectancy. The year 2008 was excluded from the life expectancy study due to the recession.

The study indicated that both decreasing unemployment and increasing household income were significantly associated with increasing male and female life expectancy: a 1% decline in unemployment was associated with an additional 2.2 months of male and 1.7 months of female life expectancy. The average life expectancy increase in an LA was 26 months for men and 34 months for women but health inequalities did widen. The unemployment rate declined over the period, and differences in the unemployment rate between rich and poor areas of the country narrowed.

Average household income increased by £2815 per year but this was slightly less in the spearhead local authorities (the fifth of LAs with the worst health and deprivation indicators) meaning inequalities in income increased. An average increase of £1000 in household income was associated with an additional 1.4 months of male and 1.1 months of female life expectancy.

The average increase in life expectancy for women across all local authorities was 26 months between 1999 and 2008 compared to 24 months for the spearhead group. For men this was 34 months compared to 32 months in the spearhead group. So the gap in life expectancy between Spearhead areas and all local authorities during this period, but they would have widened to an even greater extent had unemployment not fallen at a faster rate in more deprived areas.

In conclusion, the researchers say that their analysis indicates that "slower economic growth will result in a smaller increase in life expectancy over the next decade". They suggest that action by government to reduce socioeconomic inequalities between local authorities in England could reduce health inequalities, whereas policies that increase the gap in incomes and unemployment between areas are likely to exacerbate health inequalities. Furthermore they suggest that allocating resources to local authorities on the basis of their "performance" at increasing life expectancy is likely to reward more affluent areas, rather than disadvantaged areas with greater needs.

### Research: Impact on health inequalities of rising prosperity in England 1998-2007, and implications for performance incentives: longitudinal ecological study. END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

First measurements made of key brain links

2012-12-05

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Inside the brains of mice and men alike, a relatively big football-shaped region called the thalamus acts like a switchboard, providing the prefrontal cortex, the part that does abstract thinking and decision-making, with most of its information. The thalamus's responsibility even includes helping the prefrontal cortex to maintain consciousness and arousal. Essential as this "thalamocortical" partnership is, neuroscientists have understood very little about the connections coming from a matrix of cells in the so-called "nonspecific ...

Protected 'power naps' prove helpful for doctors in training to fight fatigue

2012-12-05

PHILADELPHIA – New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center indicates that the implementation of protected sleep periods for residents who are assigned to overnight shifts in a hospital represent a viable tool in preventing fatigue and alleviating the physiological and behavioral effects of sleep deprivation among these doctors in training. The new results will be published in the December 5th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). "Within the last two years, we've ...

New evidence on how compound found in red wine can help prevent cancer

2012-12-05

University of Leicester scientists will present groundbreaking new evidence about how a chemical found in red wine can help prevent cancer on Wednesday, December 5. Experts from around the world are set to attend Resveratrol 2012, a major conference at the University which will assess the latest advances in the study of resveratrol – a compound found in the skins of red grapes. The conference will feature new findings based on the last two years of research, which show how the chemical can help prevent cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The event follows the first ...

Scientists find oldest dinosaur – or closest relative yet

2012-12-05

Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs like the small, swift-footed Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus. The findings mean that the dinosaur lineage appeared 10 million to 15 million years earlier than fossils previously showed, originating in the Middle Triassic rather than in the Late Triassic period. "If the newly named Nyasasaurus parringtoni is not the earliest dinosaur, then it is the closest relative ...

Hushed hoarders and prying pilferers

2012-12-05

VIDEO: Eurasian jays change strategies to prevent others from stealing food and to improve their chances of absconding with other birds’ caches. Click here for more information. In order to prevent other birds from stealing the food they are storing for later, Eurasian jays, a type of corvid, minimizes any auditory hints a potential pilferer may use to steal their cache (food that is buried for later use). The new research was published today, 05 December, in the journal ...

Housing sales data used to estimate value of urban natural resources

2012-12-05

ST. PAUL, Minn., December 4, 2012 – Trees, water and lawn clearly matter to urban dwellers. For city planners balancing green space with other demands, the question has been just how much green space matters to residents. Working with lead author Heather Sander of the University of Iowa, economist Robert Haight of the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station estimated how much home buyers are willing to pay for more scenic vistas, better access to outdoor recreation, and greater neighborhood tree cover. Their study, "Estimating the economic value of cultural ecosystem ...

Telestroke cost effective for hospitals

2012-12-05

PHOENIX — Researchers have found that using telemedicine to deliver stroke care, also known as telestroke, appears to be cost-effective for rural hospitals that do not have an around-the-clock neurologist, or stroke expert, on staff. The research, published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, is intended to help hospital administrators evaluate telestroke. In telestroke care, the use of a telestroke robot allows a patient with stroke to be examined in real time by a neurology specialist elsewhere who consults via computer with an emergency room ...

California's N2O emissions may be nearly triple current estimates

2012-12-05

Using a new method for estimating greenhouse gases that combines atmospheric measurements with model predictions, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers have found that the level of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, in California may be 2.5 to 3 times greater than the current inventory. At that level, total N2O emissions—which are believed to come primarily from nitrogen fertilizers used in agricultural production—would account for about 8 percent of California's total greenhouse gas emissions. The findings were recently published in a ...

Rewriting personal history by inventing racist roads not taken

2012-12-05

Evanston, Ill. (December 4, 2012) – In 2008, research showed that expressing support for Barack Obama increased people's comfort in subsequently saying or doing things that might be considered racist. Researchers argued that endorsing a black political figure made people feel as if they had "non-racist credentials" that reduced their concern about subsequently seeming prejudiced. Now this same research group has identified a mental trick that people play to convince themselves that they have these same non-racist credentials: convincing themselves that they were presented ...

Evolution: Social exclusion leads to cooperation

2012-12-05

The study, by IIASA Evolution and Ecology Program postdoctoral fellow Tatsuya Sasaki, provides a simple new model that ties punishment by social exclusion to the benefits for the punisher. It may help explain how social exclusion arose in evolution, and how it promotes cooperation among groups. "Punishment is a common tool to promote cooperation in the real world," says Sasaki. "And social exclusion is a common way to do it." From reef fish to chimpanzees, there are many examples of animals that promote cooperation by excluding free riders. Humans, too, use social exclusion ...

Gaps in life expectancy between rich and poor set to increase over next 10 years

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: