The burden of chronic diseases in terms of disability, use of health care and healthy life expectancies

The aim of this paper is to explore the differential impact of chronic conditions on disability, use of health care and healthy life expectancies. The condition-specific impact is described by comparing persons with a variety of chronic diseases. The classification of the 19 selected chronic conditions in terms of the burden for disability and use of health care showed 8 major conditions with a high illness burden: lung disease, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes mellitus, rheumatism and arthritis complaints, neurological disorders and accident traumas. Co-morbidity has an additional impact on disability as well as on the use of medical care and long-term care. The general impact of chronic conditions is described by calculating healthy life expectancies and assessing the loss of healthy life resulting from chronic morbidity, disability and long-term care. Healthy life expectancies show marked gender differences in the burden of chronic diseases. The advantage to females in terms of life expectancy is a disadvantage In terms of healthy life expectancy. The discussion focuses on disease specificity, co-morbidity and population heterogeneity.