Living longer and better
We have all benefited from pharmaceutical research. Who hasn't taken an antibiotic for an infection—or been vaccinated against diseases, like measles, that were once common?
Living longer
Many drugs—such as antibiotics and medicines for heart disease or diabetes—have helped us to live longer. For example, the average person born in the US now lives nearly 80 years.1 In 1900, the average lifespan was less than 50 years.
Living better
We aren't just living longer—we're living better, too.
In the last 25 years, disability rates for people age 65 and older have gone down by 25%—and the number of days spent in the hospital dropped by more than half.
References
- National Center for Health Statistics Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2004. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/ prelimdeaths04/preliminarydeaths04.htm. Accessed November 20, 2006.
- US Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/ prelimdeaths04/preliminarydeaths04.htm. Accessed August 8, 2006.
“The medical advances in the last 30 to 50 years have increased the quality of life for Americans, and it has also increased the length of life for Americans.”
—L. Natalie Carroll, MD, President, National Medical Association (2003)