Public health reports
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In the United States, women live longer than men, and they have lower death rates at virtually every age and for most causes of death. The sex differential in mortality has been increasing since the early 1900s, especially for those 15-24 and 55-64 years of age. Since 1970, however, that trend has slowed for persons 45-74, and for the first time, the sex differential among those 55-64 was actually smaller in 1980 than in 1970. ⋯ Women also use more health services than men, and they are institutionalized more frequently in their later years. Future health service planning must take into consideration women's greater health service needs. Future research needs to determine why women have more illness than men and whether women's greater life expectancy is associated with a greater active life expectancy, or if they are merely experiencing more years of disability and dependency.
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Public health reports · Jul 1987
Comparative StudyTerminal care preferences: hospice placement and severity of disease.
National Hospice Study data for 1981-82 were used to predict the location of care for terminal cancer patients. Sites of care were conventional care in hospitals, hospital-based hospice care, and hospice care in the home. Subjects were terminal cancer patients with a prognosis of less than 6 months of life who were attended by a primary concerned person. ⋯ Second, the location of care was found to be poorly explained by extent of organ involvement or specific symptoms. Third, the primary concerned persons of patients under hospice home care experienced more stress but reacted no differently when compared with primary concerned persons at other care sites. Fourth, patients under hospice home care survived the longest and reported greater family closeness than other care groups.