Historical Gains in Life Expectancy Occurred at All Ages, not Just Due to Reduced Child Mortality

Historical gains in life expectancy in the past two centuries, much of it occurring prior to the advent of effective antibiotics, were largely a matter of control over infectious disease via public health measures such as sanitation, coupled to a rising standard of living. A sizable amount of the gain in life expectancy at birth is due to reduced infant mortality, but this isn't the whole story. It is worth noting, as in this article from a few months ago, that the data shows remaining life expectancy at all ages heading upward over time. Reducing the burden of infectious disease has effects at all ages, not only due to incidence at a given age, but also by reducing the accumulated damage due to serious infections suffered throughout life. It's often argued that life expectancy across the world has only increased because child mortality has fallen. If this were true, this would mean that we've become much better at preventing young children from dying, but have achieved nothing to improve the survival of older children, adolescents and adults. Once past childhood, people would be expected to enjoy the same length of life as they did centuries ago. This is untrue. Life expectancy has increased at all ages. The average person can expect to live a longer life than in the past, irrespective of what age they are. The most striking development is the dramatic increase in life expectancy since the mid-19th century. Life expectancy at birth doubled from around 40 year...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs