As the first of the 75 million baby boomers
touch 60 in January, there's good news for the men: They
are catching up to women in life expectancy.
A new "Longevity Index" by Credit Suisse First Boston
shows that while women still live four years longer on
average, men are gaining twice as fast in the age race.
Medical experts say women are working harder, smoking
more and undergoing more stress, which leads to the No.
1 killer -- heart disease.
"We are getting equality in ways we may not want," said
Dr. Sharon Brangman, a board member of the American Geriatrics
Society.
The Longevity Index is designed to help insurance companies
and pension funds hedge their risk as both men and women
live longer -- and cost more -- in pension payments and
lifetime annuity payments.
Women can now expect an average 82.6 years of life, the
index shows, while men can look forward to 78.1 years.
But over the last 10 years, the average annual rate of
improvement for men has been 2 percent; for women, it's
slightly less than 1 percent, the index shows.
For the 22 years covered by the index, the expected average
lifetime for men has gone up by 3.7 years; women's climbed
only 1.7 years.
While some male-dominated causes of death such as alcohol,
drugs, firearms and AIDS have
dropped in recent years, the biggest change has been in
the toll taken by the traditional killers: heart disease
and cancer.
Men's lung cancer rates have been declining since 1990,
while women's were rising, statistics show.
"Women started smoking seriously 25 years ago, and the
lag time for this epidemic has kicked in," said Dr. Michael
Thun, who heads epidemiological research at the American
Cancer Society.
The Credit Suisse index shows the greatest advances have
been made in the 50-year-old age bracket, where heart
disease frequently fells middle-agers.
Lifestyle changes such as exercise and low-fat diets,
along with cardiac bypass surgery and defibrillators,
are keeping more people alive, Dr. Brangman said.
Despite the gains, it's likely that women will continue
to outlive men, said Robert Anderson, chief of mortality
statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics.
"Men engage in more risky behavior," he said. "It's just
our lot to die sooner."
