Disability-free life expectancy and life expectancy in good self-rated health in Chile: Gender differences and compression of morbidity between 2009 and 2016

BACKGROUND: Chile has one of the highest life expectancies at 60 years in South America. This study was aimed to determine healthy life expectancies among Chilean older people, according to self-rated health and disability, and to explore gender differences. METHODS: Data from the National Survey of Health (2009 and 2016) were used to estimate prevalence of less than good self-rated health and disability among people aged 60 years and above. Health expectancies were calculated with the Sullivan method. RESULTS: In both years, women expected to live a lower proportion of their life expectancy in good self-rated health (54.5% [95% CI 50.0–58.8] for men and 37.6% [95% CI 34.3–40.8] for women in 2009; 46.1% [95% CI 42.6–49.7] for men and 38.5% [95% CI 35.6–41.4] for women in 2016). Life expectancy in less than good self-rated health increased for men (9.4 years [95% CI 8.4–10.3] in 2009; 11.5 years [95% CI 10.7–12.2]). Women expected to live a lower proportion of their remaining life without disabilities (65.3% [95% CI 61.2–69.4] for men and 44.9% [95% CI 41.9–47.9] for women in 2009; 71.9% [95% CI 68.7–75.0] for men and 61.1% [95% CI 58.5–63.8] for women in 2016). In 2016, disability-free life expectancy increased among women, but they still had a higher life expectancy with mild disability (2.8 years [95% CI 2.3–3.4] for men and 6.0 years [95% CI 5.4–6.7] for women). CONCLUSIONS: Women expected to spend more years in less than good self-rated health and disabled. There was an expansion of life expectancy in less than good SRH among men and a compression of disability in both sexes. The high proportion of years expected to be lived in less than good self-rated health and gender differences in disability-free life expectancy of older adults should be addressed by public health policies in Chile.