Changes in the healthfulness of life of the elderly population: an empirical approach.

This paper presents an empirical approach to measuring the healthfulness of life of the elderly population. It discusses information related to trends in disability-free and quality-adjusted life expectancy in the context of the current debate concerning prospects for a possible future compression of morbidity. Trends in each of the components underlying health expectancy are examined: survivorship and remaining life expectancy in each state of health, rates of institutionalization, as well as incidence of disability and prevalence of activity restriction in the household population. The effects on health expectancy of changes in these components are noted.