Florida - Friday December 9, 2022: A recently released 2022 Healthy Aging Index report ranks Florida 30th out of 50 in the 2022 USA Healthy Aging Index.
The 2022 Healthy Aging Index, a newly released report about life quality in the US performed by digital health companies DoFasting and Kilo Health, ranks Florida at 30th place out of 50.
The report analyzes 5 fundamental pillars of healthspan: demographics, economics, behavioral aspects, healthcare, and mental health. Underpinning these pillars are 25 indicators (5 per pillar) that are interrelated and work together to provide an overall measure of healthy aging across the 50 US states.
According to the research, Florida hangs back from Pennsylvania and Delaware because of the high level of divorce rate and lack of regular exercise. However, the state ranked well in terms of lower than average suicide rates and personal consumption expenditures.
“A recent study from the US Medicare Health Outcome revealed that marriage has a protective effect and increases life expectancy. Moreover, a recent literature review revealed that the conservative estimate of the net increase in life expectancy with physical activity is about 2–4 years but presumably even greater because of the positive influence of physical activity on major risk factors for mortality,” says Supriya Lal, RD, MPH, health advisor at DoFasting.
“Corresponding to the study, the best state for healthy aging is Utah, which is becoming an attractive destination for relocation due to affordable healthcare costs and beautiful nature. The worst state for healthy aging is Mississippi because of the lower quality education, lower income and high poverty and crime rates,” says Kasparas Aleknavicius, MD, medical advisor at DoFasting.
The 2022 Healthy Aging Index aims to highlight specific improvements that individual states could make to support healthy aging.
“Multiple recent studies have shown that a low-risk lifestyle can prolong life expectancy – and that most of these additional years of life are spent in good health,” adds Kasparas Aleknavicius.
Despite spending the most on healthcare worldwide, the United States falls well behind other world leaders in life expectancy rankings. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that after a historic drop in life expectancy in 2020, the country took another alarming hit in 2021, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic reports. And while life expectancy in other high-income countries has since increased, in the US, it fell by almost 3 years (down to 76.1 years).
One of the reasons for such poor rankings is the US medical system. However, such measures also depend on a variety of socio-economic and behavioral factors that affect an individual’s health – diet, exercise, smoking, poverty, obesity, compliance with medical protocols, and many others.
The research was carried out by experts in the digital health company DoFasting. The team of researchers and medical doctors analyzed 1,250 units of data from 25 reputable sources. The research was conducted to shed light on the uneven distribution of resources around the United States and help people make decisions regarding the most suitable place to live in.
The methodology and explanations of how each factor influences healthy aging can be found here. The methodology behind the report and all calculations can be found here. Visualized information and web access can be found here.