Women ‘have more health problems than men’

29 March 2004

MADRID – Spaniards can expect to live to 58 in good health but after this will suffer some disability, a study published Monday claimed.

Spanish men will also suffer some kind of disability at 68 but women will not be affected by serious health problems until they are 75.

Women’s life expectancy is seven years greater than men’s and they are likely to live longer without disability.

But a greater proportion of women’s lives will be lived with some kind of disability, the study found.

For example, at 65 the number of years lived with some kind of disability is about five years in men, but eight years in women.

The study was carried out  by the Gaspar Casal Foundation and the University of Castilla-La Mancha and appeared in the magazine ‘Health Information in Spain’.

It found that health depended on what region of Spain people lived in.

Men live longer without serious disability in La Rioja (71) and Madrid (71), but in Andalucía, Murcia, Asturias and Ceuta, they would only reach 66 and 67 without health problems.

Women had a better quality of health in La Rioja (76), Navarra (74), Madrid (74) and Aragón (74).

But in Melilla (64), Murcia (68), Andalusia (68) and Ceuta (69) health problems hit women earlier in their lives.

The study also reveals figures relating to health and sanitary resources in Spain.

Navarra, in north-west Spain, the Balearic Islands and Madrid are above average in terms of equipment and high technology.

But no figures were supplied for areas where health resources were below average.

Public financing per capita increased from EUR 469 in 1991 to EUR 869 a decade later, while private investment grew twice as fast as public investment – from EUR 136 to EUR 347.

Just over five percent of the working population (5.4 percent) is employed in the health sectors.

But seventy percent of all social services and health and sanitation jobs are done by women, especially in pharmacy and nursing.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news