THE VITAL ROLE OF PHARMACY AMIDST DECLINING LIFE EXPECTANCY
Life expectancy is a measure of how long a person can expect to live, based on the average mortality rates for a given population.
L
ife expectancy can be influenced by various factors, such as genetics, lifestyle, environment, health care and
social conditions.
Healthy life expectancy is a measure of how long a person can expect to live in good health, without any limitations in their daily activities due to physical or mental health problems. Healthy life expectancy can be affected by similar factors as life expectancy, as well as by the prevalence and management of chronic diseases and disabilities.
This article will examine the trends and inequalities of life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Scotland and explore the implications and opportunities for pharmacy to improve the health and wellbeing of the Scottish population.
Trends and inequalities of life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Scotland According to the latest statistics from the National Records of Scotland (NRS), life expectancy at birth in Scotland in 2019-2021 was 76.6 years for males and 80.8 years for females. This is a decrease of around 9.6 weeks (0.2 years) for males and 10.4 weeks (0.2 years) for females compared to 2018-2020. This is the second consecutive decrease in life expectancy since 1980-1982 for males and since 1992-1994 for females.
The NRS attributes this decline mainly to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused excess deaths in Scotland since March 2020. However, even before the pandemic, life expectancy in Scotland had been stagnating since 2014-2016, due to factors such as an ageing population, increased mortality from drug- related deaths, alcohol-related deaths and suicide, and reduced improvements in mortality from cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Healthy life expectancy at birth in Scotland in 2019-2021 was 60.7 years for males and 61.5 years for females. This means that males can expect to spend around 79% of their life in good health, while females can expect to spend around 76% of their life in good health. These figures have dropped each year from 2019 to 2023 for both males and females.
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