Issue 122 Item 5 U.S. Life Expectancy Hits New High, But Not for Those with Diab

Death is on the decline for babies, adults and older people alike, with AIDS, homicide, cancer and heart disease all claiming fewer lives, but not for those with diabetes. That according to the government report in its annual look at American health. But Life expectancy reached a record high of 76.9 years, with the gaps between blacks and whites as well as men and women narrowing over time.

The report released Thursday looks at health trends spanning the second half of the 20th century and finds improvement on almost every measure.

"When you take the long view, you see clearly how far we’ve come," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

With better medical care and a drop in smoking rates, death rates for heart disease have been cut in more than half, and they have declined even more dramatically for stroke and other cerebrovascular disease.

Death rates from injuries, particularly motor vehicle crashes, have also fallen since about 1970, with safer cars on the road and more people wearing seat belts.

It’s not all good news. Death rates for diabetes, along with the number of cases, are climbing, largely the result of a sharp increase in obesity.

All of these factors contribute to life expectancy, and people are certainly living longer.

The average baby born in 1900 could expect to live 47.3 years and that gauge has been climbing ever since. By 1950, life expectancy had risen to 68.2, and it reached 76.9 in 2000.

Throughout the century, women and whites have lived longer, but those gaps are closing, the report shows.

In 1950, whites lived 8.3 years longer than blacks. By 2000, that gap was 5.6 years.

For gender, the gap was at its peak in 1970, when women lived 7.6 years longer than men. By 2000, the gap was 5.4 years.

The report, produced by the National Center for Health Statistics, found drops in death at every stage of life and for many diseases.

– Heart disease: Much of the improvement in life expectancy is traced to falling heart disease rates. In 1950, just over 585 people in the United States developed heart disease for every 100,000. By 1999, that had been more than cut in half, falling to just under 268 people per 100,000.