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Luxembourg Women Health Information
– Reported, February 03, 2012
As the length of life increases, older people can respond with lifestyle changes that can increase healthy years of life. Correspondingly, health care systems need to shift towards more geriatric care, the prevention and management of chronic diseases and more formal long-term care. Since people are living longer, measures to improve health and prevent disease need to focus on people of working age.
Eight of ten people in Luxembourg die from noncommunicable diseases,mainly cardiovascular diseases (about one third of deaths). Mortality from this cause has decreased regularly and is now similar to the Eur-A average. Ischaemic heart disease, although still the single biggest killer, is lower than in Eur-A. Cerebrovascular disease is higher, especially among women aged 2564 years.
Cancer mortality has declined substantially and is now below the Eur-A average. Lung cancer follows this trend for both genders. The incidence of cancer, however, has increased more rapidly than in Eur-A but is still 10% lower. Men in Luxembourg have one of the highest incidence rates of lung cancer.
Better eating habits can prevent premature death from CVD, but peoples chances of a healthy diet depend on what food is available and whether it is affordable. Food and nutrition policies need to cross sectors and be coordinated, so that non-health sectors give priority to public health. This also applies to the promotion of physical activity: policies to encourage active living over the life course need to be
integrated across health and non-health sectors.
Preventive care, delivered through a countrys primary care system, can improve all-cause mortality and premature mortality, particularly from CVD.
People in Luxembourg have the highest alcohol consumption in Eur-A: 60% higher than the Eur-A average. They die more often from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, especially men, as well as from alcohol-related causes for both genders.
More than a quarter of women and over a third of men in Luxembourg smoke.
New HIV infection rates in Luxembourg have consistently been 2040% higher than in Eur-A in recent years, mainly through heterosexual contact. Hepatitis C is common among injecting drug users, and the incidence of hepatitis B is among the highest.
Luxembourg had a population of less than half a million at the start of 2003, almost all of it urban. The most striking demographic feature in Luxembourg, also observed in the majority of Eur-A countries, is the increasing proportion of elderly people in the population.
The evidence on determinants of health shows that people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged bear the greatest burden of disease. Among determinants, income is related to an accumulation of factors that affect mortality.
A person born in Luxembourg in 2002 can expect to live 79 years on average: 81.8 years if female and 75.5 years if male, according to WHO estimates.Over the last 20 years, according to estimates reported by Luxembourg, the residents of Luxembourg gained about 6 years in life expectancy (LE), with women showing a greater gain than men: 6.5 years and 5.1 years, respectively.
Credits: WHO Regional Office for Europe
More information at: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/103561/E88551.pdf
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