Women live longer but quality of life is often poor

May 3 2009

According to scientists in the United States women may live longer lives but the quality of their lives is often poor.

The scientists say because obesity and arthritis often occur during early and middle age the quality of life for many women during their senior years, is significantly reduced.

The researchers at Duke University Medical Center conducted a study which included 5,888 people over the age of 65, and they say women suffered up to two and a half times more disabilities than men of the same age.

The researchers found that higher rates of obesity and arthritis among these women explained up to 48% of the gender gap in disability, and was above all other common chronic health conditions.

Dr. Heather Whitson, an assistant professor of medicine who led the study says though women tend to live longer than men, this study shows that they are at greater risk of living with disability and much of the excess disability is attributable to higher rates of obesity and arthritis.

Dr. Whitson says the findings are important because they suggest that women's tendency to gain extra pounds in their child-bearing and peri-menopausal years translates into loss of independence in their old age.

The researchers say the study is the first to isolate the impact of specific chronic health conditions on the difference in disability rates between older men and women and while much research is focused on how chronic conditions affect mortality, they were surprised to see the extent to which these conditions explained the gender difference in disability.

Dr. Harvey Jay Cohen, the study's senior author, chair of the Department of Medicine and director of Duke's Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, says the reason for this discrepancy in disability has not been well understood but it was found that the chronic health conditions that women experience in greater numbers than men may explain part of that gap.

Dr. Whitson says women have a natural tendency to gain more weight than men over their life span, but may be more motivated to maintain a healthy weight if they realize that those extra pounds make it more likely that they will be disabled in later years – potentially becoming a burden to their children or needing nursing home care.

The current study is an analysis of the Cardiovascular Health Study which asked participants about their ability to conduct common activities of daily living, such as grooming, eating, getting dressed, managing money and upper and lower body movement, including reaching, grasping, walking and climbing stairs.

The Duke team say the study draws attention to two worrying health trends that could worsen the average quality of life for women in the future - obesity and arthritis and also cardiovascular disease, stroke and emphysema, which had previously been less common among women.

The study also found that women were more likely than men to experience fractures, vision problems and bronchitis - whereas men were more likely to have emphysema, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, diabetes and hearing problems.

The researchers say the rates of cardiovascular disease are not improving as quickly among women as they are among men and smoking-related disease is becoming more common in women.

Dr. Cohen says the findings are more of a concern because of the increasing rates of obesity among women and the higher rates of other conditions that are currently over-represented among men and he believes women need more help to make better decisions earlier in life.

The researchers say that the next step is to determine whether older women who have been disabled by obesity or arthritis regain function if they undergo treatment to help them achieve a healthy weight or to control their arthritis pain - if this is not the case then it is even more important to focus efforts on preventing obesity and arthritis in younger populations.

The study was presented on the weekend at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.