Health survey of elderly Europeans shows clear north-south differences
The EU-funded project SHARE ('Survey of health, ageing and
retirement in Europe') has shown, among other things, that women live
longer than men, especially in southern European countries, and that
men are not sick as often as women, especially in the North. The
detailed results of the survey were presented last week in Brussels,
and are freely available to the public.
SHARE and its sister project, COMPARE, were funded approximately EUR
5.8 million in total under the EU's Fifth and Sixth Framework
Programmes (FP5 and FP6) in the 'Quality of Life' and 'Citizens'
Thematic areas respectively. Support was also provided by national
funding agencies in Austria, Belgium, France and Switzerland, and in
the US and Israel.
The aim of SHARE was to provide reliable data on the life circumstances
of elderly Europeans to researchers and policy makers in the fields of
public health, economics and social sciences. Starting in 2004, data
was collected from around 30,000 people aged 50 years or older in 15
European countries. Initially, the study focused on health, work,
financial security, pension, family settings and relationships.
'A Swiss new born girl is expected to live almost four years longer
than her Danish counterpart, and this difference is almost as large
between Denmark and its neighbour Sweden. We need to understand what is
hidden behind these striking differences (genetics, life styles, or
health care provision?) in order to better understand human ageing. The
SHARE data will contribute to this understanding,' reads the SHARE
project report.
In general, the results showed that in southern Europe people live
longer but are ill more often than elderly people in northern European
countries. Their northern counterparts are generally healthier and
richer. In terms of general health, Danes, followed by the Swedes and
Swiss, were found to be the most satisfied: 40% believe that they are
not in the very best of health, and around 10% perceive themselves to
be in poor or very bad health. Physical health problems such as
cataracts are experienced more often by those aged 80 or over than by
people aged between 50 and 59 years.
Women report health problems more frequently than men; however, men
suffer more often from potentially life-threatening illnesses such as
diabetes or heart and lung diseases. Men were more likely to be
overweight than women in all countries studied.
The SHARE project looked at out-of-pocket payments for healthcare,
health service utilisation and healthcare quality for older persons,
and found much room for improvement. In particular, they found a
serious lack of geriatric assessments (for example, asking about which
drugs a patient is already taking) and screening tests, which shows a
need for greater efforts in preventive medicine.
The survey found that annual per capita public and private health
expenditures range from about EUR 1,200 in Greece and Spain to almost
EUR 3,000 in Denmark, but that there was not necessarily a correlation
between expenditure share and life expectancy. Most disturbing,
according to the report, is data showing below-average life expectancy
and above-average healthcare expenditure in the Netherlands, Germany
and Denmark.
The SHARE report shows that throughout Europe, there is a strong
connection between health (and health behaviour) and socio-economic
status. Individuals with a lower level of formal education were 70%
more likely to be physically inactive and 50% more likely to be obese
than their more highly educated counterparts.
This relationship between health and socio-economic status was also
applicable for mental health: depression was more common in people with
low income or low wealth, particularly in northern European countries.
'Prevalence of current depression rises with age in most SHARE
countries and is higher among women than among men,' the report states.
'Particularly the southern European countries show a large gender gap
with huge depression prevalence rates among elderly women.'
'SHARE has made great efforts to deliver truly comparable data, so we
can reliably study how differences in cultures, living conditions and
policy approaches shape the quality of life of Europeans just before
and after retirement,' the report adds.
SHARE represents much of Europe but does not include new EU Member
States or the UK. The project will collect data from these countries in
its next phase.
Source: Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS)
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