Trends in healthy life expectancy in the age of austerity.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Longitudinal population-level demographic time-series analysis (graded by design analogy, not clinical CEBM).
PubMed 35667853 · doi:10.1136/jech-2022-219011
What was done
The authors estimated trends in healthy life expectancy (HLE) in Scotland from 1995 to 2019 using standard HLE methodologies based on national mortality records and survey data, stratified by sex and socioeconomic deprivation.
What was found
Male and female HLE increased markedly from 1995 to 2009, then fell by approximately 2 years between 2011 and 2019. While declines occurred across both the least and most deprived cohorts, the decrease was largest in the 20% most deprived areas at 3.5 years.
Why it matters
The paper demonstrates that Scottish healthy life expectancy experienced a sustained reversal and widening inequality prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, coinciding with the implementation of UK austerity policies.
Limits
The abstract reports no participant counts or confidence intervals. The ecological, observational time-series design cannot definitively establish a causal link between specific austerity measures and the observed declines in healthy life expectancy.
Cited by
- supports As of recent ONS data, men and women in the UK can expect to spend approximately 60 years of their lives in good health.