Complex Sex Differences in Life Expectancy in French Guiana

Abstract

In the complex context of French Guiana, different vulnerabilities and different risk factors between genders may lead to complex differences in health outcomes, mortality, and life expectancy. Our aim was, thus, to compare male and female mortality and life expectancy, to compare it between French Guiana and mainland France, and to look at temporal trends and the main specific causes of death in order to identify actionable singularities. National databases were used to obtain life expectancy at birth, at 20, 40, and 60 years, and mortality statistics. Standardized death rates and causes of death for French Guiana and mainland France were obtained through the CEPIDC, which analyzes information from death certificates. When comparing with mainland France, life expectancy at birth was significantly shorter both in males and females (mean = −2.9 years); life expectancy at 20 years, which allows to remove the effect of the greater child mortality in French Guiana, was also shorter in French Guiana for males (mean = −1.8 years) and females (mean = −2 years). The differences between mainland France and French Guiana regarding life expectancy at 40 and 60 years (mean = −1.5 and −1.3 years) was mainly found among females, males in French Guiana life expectancy at 40 and 60 years was closer to that in mainland France (mean = −0.8 and −0.6 years). Although they have a greater life expectancy at birth than men, women in French Guiana are substantially more affected by overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes. The observed patterns of life expectancy at different ages presumably reflect the burden of external causes and AIDS in males and perhaps metabolic diseases in women.