Women's excess unhealthy life years: disentangling the unhealthy life years gap.

Background: Compared to men, women live longer but have more years with disability. We assessed the contribution of gender differences in mortality and disability, total and by cause, to women's excess unhealthy life years (ULYs).

Methods: We used mortality data for France 2008 from Eurostat, causes of death from the CépiDc-INSERM-database; and disability and chronic conditions data from the French Disability Health Survey 2008-09.

Contribution of chronic conditions to disability in men and women in France.

Background: Women report more disability than men perhaps due to gender differences in the prevalence of diseases and/or in their disabling impact. We compare the contribution of chronic diseases to disability in men and women in France, using a disability survey conducted in both private households and institutions, and we also examine the effect of excluding the institutionalized population.

Methods: Data comprised 17 549 individuals age 50+, who participated in the 2008-09 French Disability Health Survey including people living in institutions.