The contributions of public health policies and healthcare quality to gender gap and country differences in life expectancy in the UK.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In many high-income countries, life expectancy (LE) has increased, with women outliving men. This gender gap in LE (GGLE) has been explained with biological factors, healthy behaviours, health status, and sociodemographic characteristics, but little attention has been paid to the role of public health policies that include/affect these factors. This study aimed to assess the contributions of avoidable causes of death, as a measure of public health policies and healthcare quality impacts, to the GGLE and its temporal changes in the UK. We also estimated the contributions of avoidable causes of death into the gap in LE between countries in the UK.

Methods

We obtained annual data on underlying causes of death by age and sex from the World Health Organization mortalit

SUBMITTER: Allel K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8527782 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature