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Updated: May 24, 2026
10:08
Surveying Low-Cost Methods to Measure Lifespan and Healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: May 18, 2022
Summary
Reducing uncertainty in human life span is valuable. Less variation in life expectancy, particularly due to infant mortality, significantly impacts well-being and economic disparities globally.
Area of Science:
- Health Economics
- Demography
- Sociology
Background:
- Significant uncertainty exists regarding human life span.
- Standard deviation in adult life span in the U.S. is approximately 15 years.
- Evidence suggests this variance in life span is costly.
Purpose of the Study:
- To calibrate a utility-theoretic model of preferences over length of life.
- To quantify the economic value of reducing life-span uncertainty.
- To analyze how life-span variance affects global disparities in life expectancy and well-being.
Main Methods:
- Calibration of a utility-theoretic model.
- Economic valuation of reduced standard deviation in life span.
- Analysis of cross-sectional data on life expectancy and well-being.
Main Results:
- One fewer year in standard deviation of life span is valued at approximately half a mean life year.
- Differences in life-span standard deviation amplify disparities in life expectancy between countries and economic groups.
- Accounting for life-span variance amplifies observed convergence in global well-being.
Conclusions:
- Reducing life-span uncertainty, especially infant mortality, is economically significant.
- Life-span variance is a key factor explaining global inequalities in health and well-being.
- Convergence in life expectancy and well-being is partly driven by reduced variance in life span.
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