Live longer and better? Estimates of healthy life expectancy in the Brazilian population

Abstract

This study analyzed differences in healthy life expectancy in the elderly based on three health dimensions in Brazil from 1998 to 2008: disability-free life expectancy, healthy life expectancy based on self-rated health, and chronic disease-free life expectancy. The Sullivan method was used, combining life tables from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and interval estimates of the prevalence of functional disability, self-rated health, and chronic diseases according to the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (PNAD, 1998 and 2008). Besides the increase in life expectancy, the study showed significant and similar increases in disability-free life expectancy and healthy life expectancy based on self-rated health at almost all ages. Women had higher life expectancies than men, but expected to live longer with poor health, regardless of the indicator used to measure health. Although the studies measured health differently (making comparisons difficult), women showed a consistent disadvantage in healthy life expectancy.