Americans spend more time living with diseases than rest of world, study shows

Americans spend more time living with diseases than people from other countries, according to a new study.

On Wednesday, the American Medical Association published its latest findings, revealing that Americans live with diseases for an average of 12.4 years. Mental and substance-use disorders, as well as musculoskeletal diseases, are main contributors to the years lived with disability in the US, per the study.

Women in the US exhibited a 2.6-year higher so-called healthspan-lifespan gap (representing the number of years spent sick) than men, increasing from 12.2 to 13.7 years or 32% beyond the global mean for women.

The latest overall healthspan-lifespan gap in the US marks an increase from 10.9 years in 2000 to 12.4 years in 2024, resulting in a 29% higher gap than the global mean.

Globally, the healthspan-lifespan gap has widened over the last 20 years, extending to 9.6 years from 8.5 years in 2000 – a 13% increase.

Following the US in the largest healthspan-lifespan gaps were Australia at 12.1 years, New Zealand at 11.8 years, the UK and Northern Ireland at 11.3 years and Norway at 11.2 years. By contrast, the smallest healthspan-lifespan gaps were seen in Lesotho at 6.5 years, Central African Republic at 6.7 years, Somalia and Kiribati at 6.8 years and and Micronesia at 7 years.

Describing the results, the study’s authors, Armin Garmany and Andre Terzic, said: “These results underscore that around the world, while people live longer, they live a greater number of years burdened by disease.”

The study added that in line with global trends, the gap in the US coincided with a disproportionate growth in life expectancy v health-adjusted life expectancy. In the US, life expectancy increased from 79.2 to 80.7 years in women, and from 74.1 to 76.3 years in men, the study revealed.