• April 19, 2024

Worldwide, the life expectancy of people has increased during the last decades, so now lives longer compared to the average of 50 years ago; however, even though we live longer, old age is shared with many more chronic diseases .

According to a report published in the magazine The Lancet, In the last two decades mortality rates have been considerably reduced by malnutrition , infectious diseases such as measles or tuberculosis , especially in the child population, so that the life expectancy It has grown since 1970.

Live longer, sick?

Ezequiel Emanuel, president of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania , explains that in many parts of the world they have been able to eradicate this type of diseases, however, according to specialists, while some leave, others arrive, like chronic degenerative .

While it is true that now the life expectancy implies living until old age (more than 70 years), now diseases such as cancer, diabetes , AIDS and cardiovascular diseases, responsible for the great majority of deaths worldwide.

In particular, experts such as those from the University of Washington , the mortality rate has been reduced especially with respect to men, while women register only a slight improvement, in the best of cases.

In this sense, the World Health Organization (WHO) believes that for now it is difficult to really consider that there is a substantial increase in life expectancy of the entire population, because the sample covered by the report is not representative of a majority.

In addition, they consider that unlike the diseases that have been eradicated little by little, these chronic diseases require more than just a vaccine, so you should consider the lifestyle and all the factors that damage it, such as obesity or smoking.

Video Medicine: How to Live Longer | Blue Zones & Longevity | Doctor Mike (April 2024).