Living longer? Not in US

Researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation this month published a county-by-county analysis of life expectancy. From 1987 to 1997, there were 227 counties where female life expectancy dropped. From 1997 to 2007, the number of counties where women’s life expectancy dropped exploded to 737.

Comparisons with the rest of the developed world are more appalling. Of the nation’s 3,147 counties, nearly two-thirds — 2,054 — fell further behind life expectancies for women in the 10 longest-living countries. This is despite the United States having the world’s highest per-capita health spending.

Christopher Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said his research team expected to find regional and racial disparities, but the overall breadth of the backward movement was stunning. He said that several negative trends were hitting American women all at once. “Men were big smokers in the 1950s and have cut back since,’’ Murray said. “Women started later and we are now seeing the damage done by this wave of women smokers. Obesity also hits women harder than men, and this is a huge factor nationwide. With high blood pressure, we know from previous studies that women are not being diagnosed or treated at the same level.’’