title: Cross-national disparities in sex differences in life expectancy with and without frailty.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  with continued ageing, levels of frailty are an increasing concern. Women live longer than men, but how life expectancies (LE) with frailty differ between men and women and whether sex differences are the same for all European countries is unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to compare sex differences in LE in phenotypic frailty categories and disability at age ≥50 between European countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE).
  
  
  METHODS
  a total of 50,351 people aged ≥50 from SHARE wave 4 (included countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden).
  
  
  METHODS
  the SHARE Frailty Instrument for Primary Care and the Global Activity Limitation Indicator were combined to define four phenotypic frailty and disability categories: robust, pre-frail, frail and severely limited. LEs with each state by sex and country were calculated using Sullivan's method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  at age 70, the LE robust ranged from 4.1 to 10.4 years (men) and 3.0 to 8.9 years (women), LE pre-frail from 0.8-3.1 years (men) and 2.2-5.5 years (women), LE frail from 0.1-1.8 years (men) and 0.4-5.5 years (women) and LE with severe activity limitation from 1.9 to 4.4 years (men) and 2.9 to 7.5 years (women). At all ages and both sexes the fewest years were spent frail.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  this study is the first to compare differences in LE in frailty categories across European countries. In most European countries, years spent robust (free of frailty or limitation) are significantly less for women than men, perhaps due to socio-economic as well as biological factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Gerontology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Romero-Ortuno
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fouweather
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jagger
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Europe; comparative study; frail older adults; healthy life expectancy; older people; sex differences
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