U.S. life expectancy passes 78

For the first time, U.S. life expectancy has surpassed 78 years, the government reported Wednesday. Disparities among ethnic groups and between the sexes generally grew narrower.

TAMING THE KILLERS: The increase -- to 78.1 from 77.8 in 2005 -- is due mainly to falling mortality rates in almost all the leading causes of death, federal health officials said.

The death rates from most diseases went down, with influenza mortality falling steeply and AIDS mortality marking its 10th straight year of decline. Infant mortality in 2006 also fell from the previous year, continuing a trend stretching back nearly 50 years.

Death rates from heart disease, cancer, stroke, emphysema, hypertension, diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, bloodstream infections, accidents and suicide all declined. The drop in diabetes deaths was steep enough to allow Alzheimer's disease -- which held steady -- to pass diabetes to become the nation's sixth leading cause of death.

GAPS REMAIN: Life expectancy for women was 80.7 years, and for men, 75.4 years. The disparity between the sexes -- 5.3 years -- has been declining since it peaked at about 8 years in 1979.

White women had the longest life expectancy, at 81 years, followed by black women (76.9 years), white men (76 years) and black men (70 years). The gap between men and women is markedly greater in blacks (6.9 years) than in whites (5 years).

Health statisticians say they don't have reliable data to calculate Hispanic life expectancy.

PUZZLING CONTRADICTION: The favorable trends appear to contradict reports of shortening life spans for some Americans, specifically women living in rural parts of the South and Midwest. The new report, however, did not examine mortality at that level of detail. The two trends -- overall national improvement, with certain subgroups doing worse -- are not incompatible, experts noted.

THE BAD NEWS: The United States continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span. Japan has the longest life expectancy -- 83 years for children born in 2006, according to World Health Organization data. Switzerland and Australia are also near the top of the list.