Factors Contributing to Longer Lifespan and the Importance of Health Span

There are two main factors that have contributed to the doubling of lifespan: improvements in childbirth and reductions in childhood mortality./nThe majority of improvements in lifespan since then have been due to advancements in fighting sepsis, disease, infection, and the use of antibiotics./nProgress in other areas of improving lifespan has been very slow or non-existent./nStatistics on improved mortality rates can sometimes be misleading, as they may be due to earlier detection rather than actual improvements in outcomes./nThe goal of medicine should not only be to keep people alive, but also to ensure that they maintain functionality and have a good quality of life./nMeasuring lifespan rather than health span is more common in medicine, but focusing on health span could be more effective in improving overall health.