This article examines
the increasing life expectancy of Japanese men and women in relation to their
health from 1986 to 2004.
We computed healthy life
expectancy for seven available time-points using the prevalence-based Sullivan
method. The results showed that, for both sexes and at all ages, the gains in
life expectancy prior to 1995 were mostly in years of good self-rated health,
while the gains thereafter were in years of poor self-rated health.
The exception was for women
at age 85, among whom there was an almost continuous increase in the number
of years in poor health. The proportion of life spent in different health states
suggested evidence of morbidity compression until 1995, followed by an expansion
of morbidity.
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