Why Asian Americans Live Longer Than White People

December 20, 2016

Asian Americans tend to live on average eight years longer than Caucasians, according to a study reported by Medical Research,

Francesco Acciai, together with Glenn Firebaugh and Aggie J. Noah from the Department of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University, conducted the study where they concluded that Asian Americans do tend to outlive Caucasian Americans.

The 8-year mortality advantage came from two different processes: First was from the fact that Asians tend to die from causes that usually strike at old ages and at the same time avoiding causes of death that affect them while young.

The other factor came from the fact that although the two groups usually die of the same cause of death, their ages will be different.

It was found out 90% of the 8-year gap, which accounts for about 6.9 years, was attributed to the fact that Asians tend to outlive Whites regardless of the cause of death. “The causes that contribute the most to the gap are heart disease (24%) and cancers (18%),” researchers concluded. The remaining 0.9 years of the age gap was due to the different rate of incidence of the causes of death. The study also showed that Asian-Caucasian mortality is greater in men than in women

But because the study generally states that Asians and Caucasians are usually affected by the same causes of death, researchers can focus more on why the other group tends to outlive the other. Acciai advised researchers who are planning to look into the topic further to consider the heterogeneity of Asian-Americans.

Information like length of time in America, country of origin, and generation, are important factors for future research.

The result of the study also meant that lifespan of other groups can be increased. Medical professionals should evaluate the differences in lifestyle and habits that may contribute to Asian people’s longer life expectancy.

For example, according to the World Health Organization, Japanese women have a life expectancy of 87 which is the highest in the world. Meanwhile, their Japanese male life expectancy is included in the top ten internationally and notably ahead of the United States and United Kingdom.

Japanese as well as other Asian countries are known to be notoriously strict when it comes to food intake and their lifestyle, perhaps a part of the ancient Asian culture that has always been embraced.

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