Do you know someone who has more than one long-term health issue, like diabetes, heart disease, or mental health problems?
A new study from the UK shows that the order in which you get these health problems can make a big difference in how long you live.
This research is very important because as people get older, it’s common to have more than one health condition. In the UK, more than one in four adults has two or more ongoing health problems.
That number jumps to 65% for people over 65, and it goes up to 82% for those over 85. These issues don’t just affect how long people live—they also affect their quality of life.
To understand this better, scientists studied the medical records of more than 1.6 million adults in the UK. They focused on three common health problems: diabetes, psychosis (a serious mental health condition), and congestive heart failure (when the heart doesn’t pump blood properly).
They wanted to see how the timing and order of these problems affected life expectancy. What they found was surprising.
If someone first gets diabetes, then develops a mental health condition, and later experiences heart failure, they might lose about 13 years from their life expectancy. But if the order of those same health problems is different, they could live longer.
For example, a 50-year-old man might lose more than 10 extra years depending on the sequence of these health issues. That shows just how important the order can be.
Interestingly, having more than one health problem isn’t always worse. The study found that people with both diabetes and a mental health condition lived longer than those who had only a mental health issue. Why? One reason might be that people with diabetes usually see their doctors more often, so they get better overall care.
This study could help improve healthcare. If doctors understand that the order of health problems matters, they could do more to catch diseases early and treat them more effectively. That could lead to better care and longer lives for patients.
However, the study isn’t perfect. It used health records that are collected during regular doctor visits, which can sometimes be missing information or have mistakes. So, more research is needed to confirm these results.
In the future, scientists might look at other groups of health problems, like the ones people face after COVID-19. They could also use this idea to build better screening tools to catch diseases earlier and treat them sooner.
This research shows that it’s not just which health conditions you get—it’s also when you get them that matters. By understanding the order of health problems, doctors might be able to help people live longer and healthier lives.
If you’re interested in heart health, you might also want to read studies that show eating eggs can help lower your risk of heart disease, and how some herbal supplements might harm your heart rhythm.
For more health tips, check out recent studies on vitamins that may help prevent type 2 diabetes and how a common food chemical might affect your blood pressure.
If you care about wellness, please read studies about how ultra-processed foods and red meat influence your longevity, and why seafood may boost healthy aging.
For more health information, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
The study was published in The Lancet Public Health.
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