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New Article in “Bundesgesundheitsblatt” • 12.04.2024Striking Regional Differences in Healthy Life Expectancy
A new paper that is co-authored by scientists from our team assesses the regional differences and trends in healthy life expectancy in Germany from 2002 to 2019.
Against the background of increasing life expectancy, the question arises in which state of health the additional years of life are spent. Therefore, Elke Loichinger (DESTATIS), Thomas Skora (GESIS) and our REDIM team members Markus Sauerberg and Pavel Grigoriev assessed for the first time regional differences in healthy life expectancy for Germany.
The concept of healthy life expectancy allows for the combination of regional differences in health status and mortality in a single measure. In this article, the authors used the concept of partial healthy life expectancy. They collected official data on deaths and population numbers to calculate abridged life tables. Data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) were used to determine the age- and sex-specific prevalences of health status. Regional differences were analysed from 2002 to 2019 by dividing Germany into four regions (North, South, East, West).
The results of their study show that regional differences in healthy life expectancy in Germany are greater than differences in life expectancy, and trends in healthy life expectancy partly differ from the corresponding trends in mortality. These differences over time also vary according to age: while healthy life expectancy has tended to stagnate and, in some cases, decline among the population aged between 20 and 64, the number and proportion of years in good health has increased among older adults up to the age of 79.
Overall, there are striking regional differences and trends in the distribution of expected years in good health in Germany. The authors conclude that timely identification of regionally divergent developments could facilitate the implementation of targeted health-promoting measures.
Loichinger, Elke; Skora, Thomas; Sauerberg, Markus; Grigoriev, Pavel (2024): Regionale Unterschiede und Trends in gesunder Lebenserwartung in Deutschland. Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz (online first).