title: Inequalities in healthy life expectancy between ethnic groups in England and Wales in 2001.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aim to develop robust estimates of disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) for ethnic groups in England and Wales in 2001 and to examine observed variations across ethnic groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  DFLE and HLE by age and gender for five-year age groups were computed for 16 ethnic groups by combining the 2001 Census data on ethnicity, self-reported limiting long-term illness and self-rated health using mortality by ethnic group estimated by two methods: the Standardised Illness Ratio (SIR) method and the Geographically Weighted Method (GWM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The SIR and GWM methods differed somewhat in their estimates of life expectancy (LE) at birth but produced very similar estimates of DFLE and HLE by ethnic group. For the more conservative method (GWM), the range in DFLE at birth was 10.5 years for men and 11.9 years for women, double that in LE. DFLE at birth was highest for Chinese men (64.7 years, 95% CI 64.0-65.3) and women (67.0 years, 95% CI 66.4-67.6). Over half of the ethnic minority groups (men: 10; women: 9) had significantly lower DFLE at birth than White British men (61.7 years, 95% CI 61.7-61.7) or women (64.1 years, 95% CI 64.1-64.2), mostly the Black, Asian and mixed ethnic groups. The lowest DFLE observed was for Bangladeshi men (54.3 years, 95% CI 53.7-54.8) and Pakistani women (55.1 years, 95% CI 54.8-55.4). Notable were Indian women whose LE was similar to White British women but who had 4.3 years less disability-free (95% CI 4.0-4.6).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inequalities in DFLE between ethnic groups are large and exceed those in LE. Moreover, certain ethnic groups have a larger burden of disability that does not seem to be associated with shorter LE. With the increasing population of the non-White British community, it is essential to be able to identify the ethnic groups at higher risk of disability, in order to target appropriate interventions.
authors.affiliation: a Institute for Ageing and Health , Newcastle University , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK.
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wohland
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nazroo
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jagger
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001459:Bangladesh; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan / Q000208:ethnology; D012737:Sex Factors; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: England and Wales; disability-free life expectancy; ethnic groups; healthy life expectancy; inequality