Background

Disability-free life expectancy is the estimate of how long an individual can expect to live in good health and without disability.

In this Comment, we explore how well the evidence base helps to narrow that gap.

The arguments for the need to reduce inequality in years lived free of disability are both moral and economic.

Methods

Taking three common conditions—depression, osteoarthritis, and type 2 diabetes—as an example, we searched for published evidence to assess how often interventions are evaluated in terms of their effects on different socioeconomic groups.

Results

Both men and women living in least deprived areas can expect to live nearly two decades longer in good health than people living in the most deprived areas. Socioeconomic inequalities in disability-free life expectancy continue to grow, probably exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. People living with disability are more likely to have poor health, worse quality of life, persistent barriers to education and employment, and greater socioeconomic deprivation than individuals without disabilities.

Full publication

Health Interventions and the unseen impact on equality (The Lancet Healthy Longevity)

Date

January 2023

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