Comparative analysis of health expectancy indicators in older adult men and women in selected European countries

Abstract

The study concerns the assessment of the health of older adults in selected European countries using summary measures of population health. These measures show to what extent increasing life span goes hand in hand with a healthier life, and to what extent it is burdened by health limitations and disability. This paper covers such health domains as self-perceived health, functional limitations, chronic morbidity and disability. Data on the health of people aged 60 and over came from Wave 7 of SHARE, and Sullivan’s method was used to calculate health expectancy measures. The multivariate nature of the health status measurement prompted us to also use a multivariate comparative analysis and to determine a synthetic measure of health status. The results showed large disproportions in health expectancy indicators in the later years of life of men and women in the European countries analysed, and these differences are greater than those relating to life expectancy.