Social inequalities in disability-free life expectancy in France: results and methodological issues

Disability-free life expectancies were calculated for socio-proiessional gr oups to gauge for magnitude and trends in health differentials during the 1 980-91 period. These indicators allowed to assess the consequences of longe r life on health and the uniformity of these effects across the social hier archy A prevalence-based life table model was used to calculate disability- free life expectancy, combining cross-sectional data on disability prevalen ce from the 1980 and 1991 French health surveys, with incidence data on mor tality. The study focused on the French male population, aged 35 and over, and divided into three socio-professional groups. Differentials in disabili ty-free life expectancy remained stable between 1980 and 1991: at age 35, t he "managers" group could expect an additional 5,4 years of life and an add itional 7 years or life without disability compared to the manual workers g roup. At age 60, the gaps reached 3 expected years of life and 4 expected y ears of life without disability. The simultaneous increase in life expectan cy and disability-free life expectancy between 1980 and 1991 led to a compr ession of the period lived with disability within lire expectancy, for all groups. This work raised some methodological issues related to the study of social inequalities in health and problems related to data limitations.