Life expectancy of Americans climbs to 78 years

[superconnected]

Source: Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) - The life expectancy for Americans is nearly 78 years, the longest in U.S. history, according to new government figures from 2005 released Thursday.

That age, based on the latest data available, was still lower than the life span in more than three dozen other countries, however.

More bad news: The annual number of U.S. deaths rose from 2004 to 2005, a depressing uptick after the figure had dropped by 50,000 from 2003 to 2004. In 2005, the number of deaths increased by about that same amount.

U.S. life expectancy at birth inched up to 77.9 from the previous record, 77.8, recorded for 2004. The increase was more dramatic in contrast with 1995, when life expectancy was 75.8, and 1955, when it was 69.6.


Read more: http://www.komotv.com/news/health/9737147.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Did the chocolate rations go up too? n/t

and the Victory Gin rations?

[daninthemoon]

3. I don't believe these figures. It doesn't mention socio-economic

variance. How does health insurance, or lack of it affect this? These numbers don't mean anything.

[superconnected]

2. more info

"Researchers also noted continued differences by race and sex. Life expectancy for whites in 2005 was 78.3, the same as it was in 2004. Black life expectancy rose from 73.1 in 2004 to 73.2 in 2005, but it was still nearly five years lower than the white figure.

Life expectancy for women continues to be five years longer than for men, the report also found.

The age-adjusted death rate for heart disease dropped from 217 deaths per 100,000 in 2004 to about 210 in 2005, and actual deaths dropped from about 652,500 to about 649,000. The stroke rate dropped from 50 per 100,000 to about 46.5, and the number of stroke deaths dropped from about 150,000 to 143,500.

But the count of cancer deaths rose from about 554,000 to about 559,000, according to the report."

.

"Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, has the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years. "

-----------------
I've watched my dad and nearly all of his friends die from heart disease/strokes before they were 65. I'm 41. I wonder when it will SEEM common place that people even get out of their 60's.

[Xipe Totec]

5. I'm one of six at 50+

With one brother dead at 30, another at 40; both died of heart disease.

Our dad died in his 40's. Not of heart disease but lung cancer, which they discovered during bypass surgery, after his second heart attack.

You get the picture.

I'be been watching the hourglass ever since I hit the mid 40's.

I'm doing as much as I can to stay healthy but when she comes, she comes.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Life Expectancy Typically Goes Up Four Months Every Year

This was somewhat less.

It's really amazing. Life expectancy in 1900 was only 45.

Believe it or not folks, we're doing something RIGHT.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. With or without health insurance?

[kirby]

7. Average IQ down to 78 too.... n/t

[wildhorses]

8. okay -- but what good is quantity without quality?

:shrug:

[emilyg]

10. Many have both.

[wildhorses]

14. at the rate we are going

it won't stay that way for long...

[dipsydoodle]

9. Try telling that

to the troops in Iraq.

[Auggie]

11. No way I can afford to live that long with health costs the way they are

[valerief]

12. Not after Friday's stand-down. nt

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. the biggest problem with living longer

is that you'll tend to spend most of your life as an old person.

Which isn't an attractive proposal.

Tell someone they'll live to be 120, and they'll be like, GREAT.

Explain to them they'll be spending half their life as a senior citizen, and it's like, ... oh.

[Akoto]

15. Heh. My grandmother says something similar.

"Honey, I'm 90. I'll be going soon."

"C'mon, grandma. You're going to live to see 100."

"Oh God, I hope not!"

[JBoy]

16. If you're a guy

who manages to live past 80, the ratio of women to men of the same age goes up exponentially. Too bad it wasn't the same when you were 20.

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. yes

the ratio of women to men is high.

so is the ratio of boob to knee, though.

:D

[susanna]

18. LOL! n/t

[Vinca]

20. That's why I stick my fingers in my ears every time I hear someone

say if you exercise for an hour you'll get an extra hour of life. That might be true, but it'll be when you're really, really old and might not want it. Having worked with geriatric patients at one time, I will never allow myself to end up in a nursing home. Death is preferable.

[melody]

19. It's the Bush years. Maybe it just seems longer. n/t

[Festivito]

21. Still below Canada? Maybe it's the weather.[/sarcasm][/eom]

Tried putting angle brackets in the message. They show in preview then disappear on post.