title: The effect of personal health care services on longevity in an economically advanced population.
abstract: This article is an attempt to assess the effect of personal health care on longevity. It is assumed throughout that personal health care has a differential impact on the various causes of death. Historical and cross-sectional comparisons of the relative incidence of certain causes of death can, under this assumption, provide some insight into the effectiveness of personal health care generally and may provide a gauge of the relative benefits of different personal health care delivery systems. Using the U.S. male population of 1964 as a reference point, it is estimated that the withdrawal of personal health services would result at the most in a decrease in average length of life from 66.9 to 60.5 years.
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics; D004194:Disease / Q000145:classification; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D010548:Personal Health Services; D013548:Sweden; D014481:United States; D014852:Wales