Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 23;17(11):e0278101.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278101. eCollection 2022.

Trends in health expectancy at age 60 in Bangladesh from 1996 to 2016

Md Ismail Tareque  1
Affiliations

Trends in health expectancy at age 60 in Bangladesh from 1996 to 2016

Md Ismail Tareque. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Life expectancy (LE) is increasing all over the world, and relying on LE alone is no longer sufficient to identify whether a country is having a healthier population. Examining the increase in LE in relation to health - health expectancy estimation - is advised to ascertain the increase (or decrease) in LE without disability over time. This study examines the trends in health expectancy at age 60 in Bangladesh from 1996 to 2016.

Methods: Mortality information from United Nations and World Health Organization and morbidity information from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics were combined using the Sullivan method.

Results: With an overall declining trend over the study period and a big drop in disability rates during 2012-2013, the disability rates were observed 1.6-1.7% in 2016. The declining trend in disability may have two-fold implications: (1) among the 98.3% older adults (≥60 years) with no severe/extreme disability, those were in jobs could have continued their work if there was no mandatory retirement at age 59, and (2) the 1.7% (translates into 0.2 million in 2020) older adults with severe/extreme disability require care assistance with their daily activities. The observed gain in disability-free life expectancy, the decrease in life expectancy with disability and its proportion allude to the compression of morbidity and healthier older adults over time.

Conclusion: In 2020, Bangladesh had 13.2 million (i.e., 8% of the total population) older adults, which is increasing day by day. The policy makers and government are suggested to prioritize the issues of older adults, particularly disability, care needs, retirement age, and health in the light of the current study's findings. Utilizing health expectancy research is suggested to understand the combined effect of disability and mortality for considering policy changes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author has declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Disability prevalence (per 1000) by gender at age 60 from 2009 to 2016.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Annual percent change in disability by gender at age 60 from 2010 to 2016.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Health expectancy by gender at age 60 from 1996 to 2016†.
Notes: † For 1996 and 2002, DFLE represents life expectancy with good self-reported health; DLE represents life expectancy with poor self-reported health; DFLE: Disability-free life expectancy; DLE: Life expectancy with disability; LE: Life expectancy.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Trends in health expectancy at age 60 from 2009 to 2016.
Notes: DFLE: Disability-free life expectancy; DLE: Life expectancy with disability; LE: Life expectancy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zhaurova K. Genetic causes of adult-onset disorders. Nat Educ. 2008;1: 49.
    1. Bank World. Life expectancy at birth, total (years)—Bangladesh. 2022. [cited 4 Oct 2022]. Available: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=BD
    1. Crimmins EM, Hayward MD, Saito Y. Changing mortality and morbidity rates and the health status and life expectancy of the older population. Demography. 1994;31: 159–175. doi: 10.2307/2061913 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jagger C, Gillies C, Moscone F, Cambois E, Van Oyen H, Nusselder W, et al.. Inequalities in healthy life years in the 25 countries of the European Union in 2005: A cross-national meta-regression analysis. Lancet. 2008;372: 2124–2131. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61594-9 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yong V, Saito Y. Trends in healthy life expectancy in Japan: 1986–2004. Demographic Res. 2009;20: 467–494.

Publication types