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Healthy life expectancy in Brazil: applying the Sullivan method.
Dalia Elena Romero1, Iúri da Costa Leite, Célia Landmann Szwarcwald
1Centro de Informação Científica e Tecnológica, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. dalia@cict.ficruz.br
Cadernos De Saude Publica
|February 8, 2006
Summary
This study estimates healthy life expectancy in Brazil using the Sullivan method. Results indicate that long-term diseases and disabilities significantly reduce healthy years, particularly with advancing age, affecting women disproportionately.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Healthy life expectancy (HLE) is a crucial public health indicator.
- Estimating HLE requires integrating mortality and morbidity data.
- The Sullivan method offers a widely used approach for HLE calculation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present the Sullivan method for estimating HLE.
- To estimate HLE in Brazil using 2003 World Health Survey data.
- To compare HLE estimates based on different health state measures.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Sullivan method, combining mortality and morbidity.
- Employed data from the 2003 World Health Survey in Brazil.
- Assessed HLE using various health state measures, including perceived health and functional limitations.
Main Results:
- Long-term diseases/disabilities significantly reduce healthy years lost.
- HLE estimates adjusted for functional limitation severity align with perceived health.
- The proportion of healthy years lost increases with age across all measures.
Conclusions:
- The Sullivan method provides a simple, interpretable HLE estimate.
- Functional limitations are key determinants of reduced healthy life years.
- Women, despite longer life expectancy, experience proportionally fewer healthy years.