Life expectancy gap grows among rich and poor in UK

CNN — A troubling gap in life expectancy among the rich and poor has emerged in the United Kingdom, and researchers say it also has been seen in the United States. The life expectancy gap between the most affluent and most deprived girls and women in the UK rose from a difference of 6.1 years in 2001 to 7.9 in 2016, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Public Health on Thursday. “So there’s some combination of social, economic behaviors and health care.” A decade ago, a similar study also led by Ezzati found a steady increase in life expectancy inequalities across US countries between 1983 and 1999, resulting from disparities among the poor. “There is an extensive body of research on inequalities in health, which points primarily to the conditions within which people live and work, with the most deprived experiencing precarious income, employment, housing and now even food supply in the UK,” said Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study but has conducted separate life expectancy research. “The finding that life expectancy is actually declining for some groups should be taken extremely seriously as, historically, this has always been an indicator of deep seated problems in society.” Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.