Senin, 23 April 2012

Men to live longer than women for the first time as they ditch bad habits

Men to live longer than women for the first time as they ditch bad habits

  • Boys born in 2000 will live to 87 - the same as girls
  • Younger boys forecast to then outlive their female counterparts
  • All due to a decline in heavy industry, fewer smokers and improved healthcare

By Fiona Macrae

PUBLISHED: 06:02 EST, 22 April 2012 | UPDATED: 18:02 EST, 22 April 2012


Men could be about to win the lifelong battle of the sexes â€" or at least draw even.

Experts say that adult males will soon have the same life expectancy as females for the first time since records began.

By the time today’s 12-year-old boys reach 30, they can expect to live to a month or so over 87 â€" matching the lifespan of the girls they are in school with today.

Battle of the sexes: Men will outlive women after abandoning bad habits

Battle of the sexes: Men will outlive women after abandoning bad habits

Younger boys in England and Wales might even outlive their female classmates, an adviser to the Office for National Statistics has predicted.

Traditionally, males are the weaker sex in terms of life expectancy, with boys more likely than girls to perish in the womb and men dying earlier than women as adults.

Smokers: Lung cancer rates have almost doubled among women

Smokers: Lung cancer rates have almost doubled among women

In Victorian times, the gap was relatively narrow but a steady increase in male smokers meant it widened to six years by 1970 â€" the biggest gap since records began in 1841.

Although the gap has since narrowed, other animal species show a similar discrepancy, and it had been assumed that underlying genetic factors left men condemned to an earlier grave.

But Professor Leslie Mayhew, a statistician at City University, London, believes that the tide is turning.

He said that the shift away from macho lifestyles towards the healthier approach more traditionally favoured by women was bringing with it the gift of longer life.

Fewer men s moke, lung cancer rates have plummeted and heart attacks, while up to three times more common in men than in women, are much easier to treat than in the past.

Living longer: A decline in heavy industry is cited by researchers as one of the main reasons why men will soon be outliving women

Living longer: A decline in heavy industry is cited by researchers as one of the main reasons why men will soon be outliving women

The professor told the Sunday Times: ‘There has been a huge decline in the numbers working in heavy industry; far fewer males smoke than before and there is much better treatment for heart disease, which tends to affect more males than females.’

Professor Mayhew’s research, to be published by City University’s Cass Business School, differs from the official forecast.

The professor, who describes the trend as ‘well entrenched’, has worked out that a boy born in 2000 will, from the age of 30, have the same life expectancy as a girl of the same age.

Old age: Red line shows women have consistently lived longer than men

Old age: Red line shows women have consistently lived longer than men

But the Office for National Statistics estimates there will still be a gap of three and a half years.

It insisted yesterday that many factors must be taken into account when making long-term projections and it is happy with its data.

Pugh

Professor Mayhew’s calculations apply only from the age of 30 as baby boys are still expected to be more fragile than girls and young men are more likely to die in sporting and road accidents.

He says that the ONS is too cautious and men are catching up in other countries too. In Sweden, it will take only until 2024 for a 30-year-old man to have the same number of years ahead of him, on average, as a woman of the same age.

British women’s life expectancy is still on the rise, but at a slower rate than men’s. And higher rates of obesity in the female population could slow it further.

Professor Mayhew’s predictions apply only to England and Wales. Scotland, where life expectancy is generally lower, is excluded from the calculations.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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Equality going the other way for once!

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Oh they think do they? It's been shown that women live longer than men regardless of lifestyle.

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I have been smoke free for 2 straight months now with no help, things I have noticed is my joints are a lot better after 45 min workout down the gym, not needing to urinate as much as I did and my bowels are not over active like they were./////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Well done. Keep it up and think of the money you are saving too.

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Average life expectancy for men has been below women because of men taking bigger risks Paul Holbourne, Chiang Mai Thailand, Nothing to do with being biologically weaker then, which is the evidence...

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Men have nearly always outlived women when it comes to the very oldest in the world. Average life expectancy for men has been below women because of men taking bigger risks (eg. speeding cars, wars and an unhealthy lifestyle). But, as your article mentions, this is all changing as women become more like men in their behaviour, and their waistlines expand exponentially!

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Blokes ditching bad habits? Somebody's been getting nagged at.

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if the modern woman wants the top jobs she can have the strees that goes with them and it will shorten her life accordingly

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When will people see that men die before women because men have worse and more difficult lives?- male, uk, 22/4/2012 22:42-------------------------------------------------------------If you look at the reasons for many of the differences, you'll the vast majority of them come down to optional behaviour. 1) Smoking. 2) more men than women are obese according to the figures 3) The head of the Anti cancer council in australia said that for every single cancer which affected men and women equally, men's outcomes (on average) were significantly worse because they presented so much later with their symptoms. It's not their lives that have to change, it's their behaviour. I'd quite happily fund an education program which helped reduce this difference.

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Part of the issue is that men receive better healthcare. I've worked in a lot of emergency rooms. When a woman comes in with pain in her chest she is ruled out for gallbladder, indigestion yes the ever popular "is she crazy?" work up. A man coming in with chest pain is immediately ruled our for a heart attack. It's the same for many serious illnesses. Women aren't immediately treated correctly.

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Live longer? In this flamin world? As Freddie Mercury sang, 'Who Want's to Live Forever'. You're here for a good time, not a long time.

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