Life expectancies in specific health states: Results from a joint model of health status and mortality of older persons

Abstract

Abstract With the trend toward aging, increases in health care expenditures are expected. Insight into (future) needs for care services requires a taxonomy of older persons’ health conditions: how health status develops as people age and how these health conditions determine residual life expectancy. In this paper we provide this information for the Netherlands. We apply a flexible nonparametric method—he Grade of Membership method—to a national database and summarize the multidimensional concept of health status into a limited set of interpretable indices. We then use these indices in our panel data model for health status and mortality. The model results are used to calculate age-health profiles and expected residual lifetimes in specific health states.