|
Abstract
|
OBJECTIVES: The health status of the Taiwanese people has improved; however, the gender difference in life expenctancy is widening. Three indicators, life expectancy at birth, standardized mortality rate and standardized years of potential life lost, were applied to understand the potential causes of gender gap.
METHODS: Data were obtained from the statistics published by the Department of Interior and the Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan. The standardized mortality rate (SMR) and standardized years of potential life lost (SYPLL) between 1991 and 2007 were calculated by the applied direct standardization method and adjusted to the 2000 Taiwan mid-year population.
RESULTS: The gender difference in life expectancy at birth widened from 5.31 years to 6.26 years. The SMR for malignant neoplasms and suicide in both genders increased year by year and the gender differences widened. The gender differences in SMR for cardiovascular diseases and cerebrovascular diseases also widened slightly although the SMRs themselves decreased each year. The SMR for accidents in both males and females decreased dramatically and the gender difference also narrowed. The SYPLL from all causes decreased yearly and the gender difference narrowed from 38.60 to 33.32; however, the gender gap for SYPLL widened if the SYPLL caused by accidents were deducted from the SYPLL from all causes. The gender difference in malignant neoplasm-specific SYPLL increased and its proportion to SYPLL from all causes increased from 9.82% in 1991 to 19.47% in 2007.
CONCLUSIONS: In Taiwan, the gender differences in health were widening. It was inferred that this was related to the high smoking rate among male adults. Whether the gender difference will be narrowed by lowering the male smoking rate remains to be determined.
Language: zh |