A decline in cerebrovascular diseases and other forms of chronic illness has helped push up Korea’s life expectancy in the past 20 years, a report showed Sunday.

The report by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute showed men and women living 4.77 years and 5.34 years longer, respectively, in 2010 compared to 1990.

The average life expectancy among Koreans in 1990 stood at 77.39 years for men and 82.16 years for women, and in 2010 those averages rose to 81.29 years and 86.63 years.

The KHIDI said the rise can be attributed to steady advances in medical science and overall improvements in health-related social infrastructure that helped reduced life-threatening diseases.

It said that headways in medicine have significantly reduced the number of people afflicted with cerebrovascular disease.

The report showed that a drop in people suffering from stroke and other types of blood vessel dysfunctions raised the life expectancy of men and women by 0.657 years and 0.891 years during the 20 years that were checked.

The institute, however, said that while there was a general drop in cerebrovascular disease among people under 65, the number of deaths attributed to the illness, usually brought on by high blood pressure and diabetes, rose for older people.

“There was a noticeable rise in deaths caused by brain blood vessel problems for men over 65 and women over 70,” the report said.

It, meanwhile, said that with medical technology expected to improve in the coming years, Korea’s life expectancy is likely to continue to go up, although there will be a need to strengthen the country’s capability to take care of people suffering from chronic illnesses. 

(Yonhap News)