Healthy life expectancy – an important indicator for health policy development in Lithuania ; Vidutinė sveiko žmogaus būsimojo gyvenimo trukmė – svarbus Lietuvos sveikatos politikos raidos rodiklis

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the changes in healthy life expectancy of the Lithuanian population between the years 1997 and 2001 and to explore the differentials of this combined mortality and subjective health measure in males and females. Material and methods. The data about the Lithuanian population and the deceased were available from the Lithuanian Department of Statistics, life tables for 1997 and 2001 were created and life expectancy estimated. The method presented first by D. F. Sullivan was applied for the assessment of healthy life expectancy. The data on self-perceived health of the Lithuanian population were acquired from the surveys of the health behavior of a randomly selected sample of the adult population of Lithuania, carried out by the Lithuanian Center for Health Education. Results. Healthy life expectancy at birth increased from 52.7 in males and 52.6 in females in 1997 up to 53.7 in males and 55.3 in females in 2001. The proportion of healthy life expectancy in the total life expectancy at birth increased both in males and in females. Though the total life expectancy of males is 10–11 years shorter, females are expected to spend considerably more years in poor health, even though some positive changes were observed. Conclusion. Increasing healthy life expectancy reflects improving health of Lithuanian population. This integrated health indicator should be periodically assessed and used for development health strategies to promote health in Lithuania.