Preventable Diseases Shorten Lifespan

Whereas smoking is thought to reduce lifespan by 10 years, preventable diseases such as heart disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes may shorten lifespan by as much as 23 years.  Researchers from The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (United Kingdom) analyzed data collected on 689,300 subjects, which spanned 47 years, and correlated the information with reports of incident deaths. The researchers note that it is common for many adults suffer from more than one chronic health condition. Poor diet and lack of exercise are blamed for preventable conditions including heart disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes. Data analysis revealed that: “At the age of 60 years, a history of any 2 of these conditions was associated with 12 years of reduced life expectancy and a history of all 3 of these conditions was associated with 15 years of reduced life expectancy.”  Writing that: “Mortality associated with a history of diabetes, stroke, or M [heart attack] I was similar for each condition,” the study authors warn that: “Because any combination of these conditions was associated with multiplicative mortality risk, life expectancy was substantially lower in people with multimorbidity.”