ArticleBMC medicine2020
Trends in life expectancy: did the gap between the healthy and the ill widen or close?
Article in BMC medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Communicating with young children who have a parent dying of a life-limiting illness: a qualitative systematic review of the experiences and impact on healthcare, social and spiritual care professionals.BMC palliative care · 2022Pooled it
- 30-year trends of hip and vertebral fracture incidence in Japan: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of bone and mineral metabolism · 2022Pooled it
- Quality of Life of Cancer Patients Receiving Enteral Nutrition: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of art therapy on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in adults with cancer: a systematic literature review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Pooled it
- The effect of shared decision-making on the conflict and regret in menopause symptoms management: an interventional study.BMC women's health · 2025Trial
- The role of adipose-derived stem cells in knee osteoarthritis treatment: insights from a triple-blind clinical study.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Trial
- Changes in Life Expectancy After Stroke Among Americans Aged 50 and Above by Sex, 1996-2018.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Anesthetic Techniques and Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction in Older Adults: Current Evidence and Perioperative Strategies.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- Examining the role of social support and death anxiety on life expectancy among cancer patients.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Article
- Temporal trends in late-life depressive symptom trajectories: a longitudinal population-based cohort study from Stockholm, Sweden.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Do people reach 100 by surviving, delaying, or avoiding diseases? A life course comparison of centenarians and non-centenarians from the same birth cohorts.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Early Recognition of Loneliness and Frailty in Relation to Chronic Disease Self-Management: A Quantitative Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Centennial Collection: Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.Stroke (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2024Article
- Predictors and shared traits of longevity within 1 year before death in patients with schizophrenia receiving long-term care: 3-year retrospective cross-sectional study.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- Treating Aortic Valve Stenosis for Vitality Improvement: The TAVI Study.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Living Longer But Frailer? Temporal Trends in Life Expectancy and Frailty in Older Swedish Adults.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024Article
- Article
- The Global Burden of Valvular Heart Disease: From Clinical Epidemiology to Management.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Postmenopausal hormone therapy and mortality before and after the Women's Health Initiative study.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Bone loss induced by cancer treatments in breast and prostate cancer patients.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDuring the past decades, life expectancy has continued to increase in most high-income countries. Previous research suggests that improvements in life expectancy have primarily been driven by advances at the upper end of the health distribution, while parts of the population have lagged behind. Using data from the entire Swedish population, this study aims to examine the life expectancy development among subgroups of individuals with a history of common diseases relative to that of the general population.
methodsThe remaining life expectancy at age 65 was estimated for each year in 1998-2017 among individuals with a history of disease, and for the total Swedish population. We defined population subgroups as individuals with a history of myocardial infarction, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, hip fracture, or colon, breast, or lung cancer. We further distinguished between different educational levels and Charlson comorbidity index scores.
resultsLife expectancy gains have been larger for men and women with a history of myocardial infarction, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, and colon or breast cancer than for the general population. The life expectancy gap between individuals with a history of hip fracture or lung cancer and the general population has, however, been growing. Education and comorbidity have affected mortality levels, but have not altered the rate of increase in life expectancy among individuals with disease history. The female advantage in life expectancy was less pronounced among individuals with disease history than among the general population.
conclusionsLife expectancy has increased faster in many subpopulations with a history of disease than in the general population, while still remaining at lower levels. Improvements in life expectancy have been observed regardless of comorbidity or educational level. These findings suggest that the rise in overall life expectancy reflects more than just improved survival among the healthy or the delayed onset of disease.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.