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US has been falling behind on life expectancy for decades, study shows
数十年来美国预期寿命排名持续下降，系统性问题损害美国民众健康
The Covid-19 pandemic set US life expectancy back by years, but new research shows that the country has been falling behind for decades.
新冠疫情使美国预期寿命缩短了数年，但新的研究表明，几十年来美国的预期寿命排名一直在落后。
In 1950, the US had the 12th longest life expectancy among certain populous countries（or regions）, with more than half a million residents, according to a study published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health. There was a 3.5-year difference between the US and Norway, which had the longest life expectancy at the time.
6月1日发表在《美国公共卫生杂志》上的一项研究显示，1950 年，在人口超过 50 万的国家（或地区）中美国的预期寿命排名第 12 位。美国和挪威之间的差距为 3.5 岁，后者是当时预期寿命最长的国家。
By 2019, the life expectancy gap between the US and the highest-performing region – now Hong Kong – had grown to more than six years, putting the US in 40th place among populous countries.
到 2019 年，美国的预期寿命排名第 40 位，与表现最好的地区（中国香港）之间的差距已经扩大到6岁以上。
The Covid-19 pandemic widened that gap even more, as the US had more deaths from the virus than any other country and has been slower to recover. In 2020, the US ranked 46th and had a 7.8-year gap from the highest-performing region, according to the study. Life expectancy was 77.4 years in the US that year, compared with 85.2 years in Hong Kong, according to data from the United Nations.
新冠疫情使这一差距进一步扩大，美国是全球新冠肺炎死亡病例最多的国家，而且恢复速度较慢。根据该研究，2020年，美国的预期寿命排名在第46位，与表现最好的中国香港有7.8年的差距。联合国数据显示，2020年美国的预期寿命是77.4岁，而中国香港是85.2岁。
Life expectancy is a “summary measure of our health,” said study author Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health. It’s not the only way to gauge the quality of life in a particular place, but it does tend to mirror trends in other health-related metrics, he said.
研究论文作者、弗吉尼亚联邦大学社会与健康中心名誉主任史蒂文·伍尔夫博士说，预期寿命是"衡量健康的简要指标"。他说，虽然预期寿命不是衡量某个地区生活质量的唯一方式，但确实能反映健康相关指标的趋势。
For these measures, the US is often compared with other wealthy and highly-industrialized nations （or regions）that are considered to be its peers.
在这方面，人们经常将美国与其他高度工业化的发达国家（或地区）进行比较。
But this report shows that a diverse group of countries across six continents and a range of economic conditions have surpassed the US on life expectancy. Among the countries that have surpassed the US in recent years are Albania and Lebanon.
但这份报告显示，一些经济欠发达国家的预期寿命已经超过了美国。例如，近年来，阿尔巴尼亚和黎巴嫩等预期寿命已经超过美国。
“The premise is shifting,” Woolf said.
“前提正在改变，”伍尔夫说。
The US “life expectancy disadvantage” has steadily worsened since 1950, according to the new study, and Woolf groups the trend into six phases. There were some years of growth and rebound, but more often than not, the pace of increase for the US lagged behind that of other countries. Overall, the US had smaller annual increases in life expectancy than other populous countries（or regions）, on average, in 49 of the 70 years studied.
根据这项新研究，美国的“预期寿命劣势”自 1950 年以来持续恶化，伍尔夫将这一趋势分为六个阶段。有几年的增长和反弹，但美国的预期寿命增长速度往往落后于其他国家。总体而言，在所研究的70年中，有49年美国的预期寿命年增长率低于其他人口大国（或地区）。
“The pandemic was horrific loss of life, but it really reflects pre-existing, systemic problems in our country that have been compromising the health of Americans for decades.”
伍尔夫说，"这次新冠疫情造成了巨大的生命损失，但它真正反映了我们国家存在已久的、系统性的问题，这些问题几十年来一直在损害美国人的健康。"
A decade ago, a group of researchers set out to identify the specific factors that were holding the US back from achieving the same gains in life expectancy as other countries. The report from the National Research Council Institute of Medicine focused on five key areas: health care, health behaviors, social and economic factors, environment and public policy.
十年前，一组研究人员着手研究阻碍美国实现与其他国家一样的预期寿命增长的具体因素。美国国家科学研究委员会的研究报告集中在五个关键领域：医疗保健、健康行为、社会和经济因素、环境和公共政策。
“We hoped that there would be an answer in one of those that would sort of be a magic bullet. But in every single one of those categories, we found dramatic differences between the US and other countries,” Woolf said – and things have only gotten worse since.
“我们希望其中一个能够成为解决问题的答案。但在报告的每一个类别中，我们都发现美国与其他国家/地区之间存在巨大差异，”伍尔夫说此后情况只会变得更糟。
For example, the US lacks universal health care and has higher caloric intake, more guns, more drugs and higher rates of child poverty, among other differences.
例如，美国缺乏全民医疗保健，饮食热量摄入较高，枪支毒品泛滥，儿童贫困率较高等。
编辑：董静，李蕙帆（实习）
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