REGIONAL INEQUITIES IN HEALTH EXPECTANCY IN BELGIUM

Mortality differs substantially between the Flemish and Walloon region s in Belgium. The question remains as to whether the health status of both populations varies in a similar way. The difference in healthy li fe expectancy, an indicator of population health, between the Flemish and Walloon regions was therefore assessed. In 1989-1990 a cross-secti onal survey in the general population was performed in which 2640 pers ons were selected by a multistage random process. Perceived health sta tus was determined through a validated question: ''On the whole, how w ould you describe your health for the moment? Would you say it is very good/good/fair/rather bad/bad?'' The prevalence of ''being in good he alth (very good to fair)'' was combined with mortality data (Sullivan method) to estimate the healthy life expectancy (HLE), and the followi ng results were found. Among males, life expectancy (LE) and HLE at ag e 15 was 58.9 years and 56.5 years in the Blemish region, compared wit h 56.6 and 50.2 years in the Walloon region. At age 65, LE and HLE in the Flemish region was 14.3 and 13.3 years, and only 13.2 and 9.2 year s in the Walloon region. Women at age 15 had an LE and HLE in the Flem ish region of 65.2 years and 61.3 years, compared to 63.9 and 58.1 yea rs in the Walloon region. At age 65, both the LE and the HLE in the Fl emish region were higher, with LE at 18.5 versus 17.7 years, and HLE a t 16.0 versus 14.3 years. Similar results were obtained when the crite ria of ''being in good health'' were restricted to those indicating th eir health to be very good or good. In conclusion, the data indicate t hat the population in the Walloon region not only has a shorter life b ut apparently also has a shorter healthy life. Research is needed to e xplain what proportion of these differences can be attributed to diffe rences in the prevalence of diseases, cultural differences and socio-e conomic differences. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.