The impact of long-term conditions on disability-free life expectancy: A systematic review

Although leading causes of death are regularly reported, there is disagreement on which long-term conditions (LTCs) reduce disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) the most. We aimed to estimate increases in DFLE associated with elimination of a range of LTCs. This is a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of studies assessing the effects of LTCs on health expectancy (HE). MEDLINE, Embase, HMIC, Science Citation Index, and Social Science Citation Index were systematically searched for studies published in English from July 2007 to July 2020 with updated searches from inception to April 8, 2021. LTCs considered included: arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease including stroke and peripheral vascular disease, respiratory disease, visual and hearing impairment, dementia, cognitive impairment, depression, cancer, and comorbidity. Studies were included if they estimated HE outcomes (disability-free, active or healthy life expectancy) at age 50 or older for individuals with and without the LTC. Study selection and quality assessment were undertaken by teams of independent reviewers. Meta-analysis was feasible if three or more studies assessed the impact of the same LTC on the same HE at the same age using comparable methods, with narrative syntheses for the remaining studies. Studies reporting Years of Life Lost (YLL), Years of Life with Disability (YLD) and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs = YLL+YLD) were included but reported separately as incomparable with other HE outcomes (PROSPERO registration: CRD42020196049). Searches returned 6072 unique records, yielding 404 eligible for full text retrieval from which 30 DFLE-related and 7 DALY-related were eligible for inclusion. Thirteen studies reported a single condition, and 17 studies reported on more than one condition (two to nine LTCs). Only seven studies examined the impact of comorbidities. Random effects meta-analyses were feasible for a subgroup of studies examining diabetes (four studies) or respiratory diseases (three studies) on DFLE. From pooled results, individuals at age 65 without diabetes gain on average 2.28 years disability-free compared to those with diabetes (95% CI: 0.57–3.99, p<0.01, I(2) = 96.7%), whilst individuals without respiratory diseases gain on average 1.47 years compared to those with respiratory diseases (95% CI: 0.77–2.17, p<0.01, I(2) = 79.8%). Eliminating diabetes, stroke, hypertension or arthritis would result in compression of disability. Of the seven longitudinal studies assessing the impact of multiple LTCs, three found that stroke had the greatest effect on DFLE for both genders. This study is the first to systematically quantify the impact of LTCs on both HE and LE at a global level, to assess potential compression of disability. Diabetes, stroke, hypertension and arthritis had a greater effect on DFLE than LE and so elimination would result in compression of disability. Guidelines for reporting HE outcomes would assist data synthesis in the future, which would in turn aid public health policy.