Obesity killing people earlier
Source: Agencies |
May 1, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AIDS, smoking and obesity are reversing progress made in helping people live longer, with mortality rates worsening over the past 20 years in 37 countries, according to researchers.
They found Icelandic men and Cypriot women had the lowest risk of premature death. But some rich countries such as the United States and Britain scored relatively poorly.
In most places, men had twice the relative mortality rate of women, Dr Christopher Murray of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues reported in the Lancet medical journal.
The US, where 60 percent of adults are overweight or obese, fell in overall rankings, from 34th in the world in female mortality and 41st in male mortality in 1990 to 49th for women and 45th for men in 2010 -- behind Chile, Tunisia, and Albania.
"Worldwide, the 1990s reversal in the trend in adult mortality is probably a result of the HIV pandemic and the sharp rise in adult mortality in countries of the former Soviet Union," the researchers wrote.
"One of the most striking patterns is the rapid decline in adult female mortality in south Asia. In 1970 this was the region with the highest risk of female mortality and by 2010, this (the risk of dying before age 60) had fallen by 56 percent."
Murray and colleagues used a complex formula to calculate the probability that someone aged 15 would die before they reached 60.
In the 40 years since 1970, they found, adult mortality risk fell by 34 percent among women and 19 percent in men globally.
But some places had notable reversals in rank, including the former Soviet Union. Russia has fallen from 43rd place for female mortality in 1970 to 121st.
"Research shows that across countries, inequality in adult mortality has grown to the point where adult men in Swaziland -- the country with the worst mortality rate -- now have a probability of premature death that is nine times the mortality rate of the best country, Cyprus," Murray's team wrote.
But mortality rates fell 50 percent over the same time in South Korea.
Murray said he wanted to study adult mortality globally because "the prevention of premature adult death is just as important for global health policy as the improvement of child survival."
They found Icelandic men and Cypriot women had the lowest risk of premature death. But some rich countries such as the United States and Britain scored relatively poorly.
In most places, men had twice the relative mortality rate of women, Dr Christopher Murray of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues reported in the Lancet medical journal.
The US, where 60 percent of adults are overweight or obese, fell in overall rankings, from 34th in the world in female mortality and 41st in male mortality in 1990 to 49th for women and 45th for men in 2010 -- behind Chile, Tunisia, and Albania.
"Worldwide, the 1990s reversal in the trend in adult mortality is probably a result of the HIV pandemic and the sharp rise in adult mortality in countries of the former Soviet Union," the researchers wrote.
"One of the most striking patterns is the rapid decline in adult female mortality in south Asia. In 1970 this was the region with the highest risk of female mortality and by 2010, this (the risk of dying before age 60) had fallen by 56 percent."
Murray and colleagues used a complex formula to calculate the probability that someone aged 15 would die before they reached 60.
In the 40 years since 1970, they found, adult mortality risk fell by 34 percent among women and 19 percent in men globally.
But some places had notable reversals in rank, including the former Soviet Union. Russia has fallen from 43rd place for female mortality in 1970 to 121st.
"Research shows that across countries, inequality in adult mortality has grown to the point where adult men in Swaziland -- the country with the worst mortality rate -- now have a probability of premature death that is nine times the mortality rate of the best country, Cyprus," Murray's team wrote.
But mortality rates fell 50 percent over the same time in South Korea.
Murray said he wanted to study adult mortality globally because "the prevention of premature adult death is just as important for global health policy as the improvement of child survival."
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