Americans spend more years sick than rest of world, study finds

Even as Americans live longer, they spend more of their years in poor health than any other country, a new study shows. People in the US live with...

Even as Americans live longer, they spend more of their years in poor health than any other country, a new study shows.

People in the US live with illness for 12.4 years on average - up from 10.9 years in 2000, according to a study published by the American Medical Association on Wednesday.

The US offers the starkest illustration of a so-called healthspan-lifespan gap that is widening around the world, as chronic illnesses take up larger portions of people’s lives. While life expectancy has long been a standard measure of public health, researchers are increasingly focused on health-adjusted life expectancy, which tracks the number of years people live in good health.

A direct comparison of the two metrics shows increases in people’s healthspans are lagging longevity gains, the research shows.

"These results underscore that around the world, while people live longer, they live a greater number of years burdened by disease,” wrote study authors Armin Garmany and Andre Terzic of the Mayo Clinic.