How Will More Obesity and Less Smoking Affect Life Expectancy?
January 22, 2014 by Samuel H. Preston,Andrew Stokes,Neil K. Mehta andBochen Cao
The brief’s key findings are:
- Obesity is on the rise and smoking is on the decline, so a key issue is the net effect of these two trends on future life expectancy.
- The analysis examines how each behavior currently affects mortality and applies the results to an estimate of the future prevalence of each behavior.
- The results show that, in 2040, the benefits of reduced smoking trump the damage from rising obesity.
- However, the story differs by gender, with a solid gain for men and only a small improvement for women, who see less of a decline in smoking during the period.
Originally Posted at Center for Retirement Research at Boston College on January 2014 by Samuel H. Preston,Andrew Stokes,Neil K. Mehta andBochen Cao.
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