As a life care planner, your primary purpose is to assess injured/ill or elderly individuals’ residual medical conditions. Based on your assessment, you are to formulate a plan of care that they can express in monetary terms. One of the key factors that used to influence their plan is life expectancy, in short, how long the individual is expected to live.
We all understand that every aspect of an elder’s care is defined, organized, prioritized, and mobilized by a life care plan that takes all their circumstances into account, including nursing costs and other daily living costs. To come up with an accurate life care plan, we must calculate the life expectancy of an individual. However, to determine an individual’s life expectancy accurately, there are several aspects to look at. These factors include:
Age
One key factor used to determine the life expectancy of injured, ill, or elderly individuals is age. At a biological level, aging happens due to cellular damage and an accumulation of a wide molecular variety over time. This damage ends up causing a gradual decrease in our mental and physical capacity. It also makes us vulnerable to a growing risk of diseases and death.
This is why age is a crucial key in determining life expectancy. The older you get, the more susceptible you become to conditions like cataracts, hearing loss, diabetes, dementia, and osteoarthritis, to name a few. There is also the likelihood that you would experience more than one medical condition at a time.
Battling several medical conditions at a time can take a serious toll on your body. This, in turn, ends up reducing your life expectancy age significantly.
Gender
Studies have shown that in most countries today, women live longer than men. While many research studies have tried to determine why there still isn’t sufficient research on why women are outliving men. The partial answer for this is due to two factors: biological mechanisms and social mechanisms.
Biological mechanisms: From a natural standpoint, men are programmed naturally to die earlier than women from conception. Scientific research has found that the male fetus is more vulnerable to pregnancy complications and maternal stress than the female fetus.
Another factor that contributes to a higher mortality rate in women is a stronger immune system. Compared to male bodies, female bodies are known to produce larger amounts of antibodies and stronger immune systems. This easily helps the body fight viral, bacterial, and respiratory infections.
Social mechanism: According to recent studies, men are more exposed to unhealthy behaviors like alcohol abuse, smoking, and work-related stress. And while women may go through the same, they have better-coping mechanisms than men.
So, if a life care planner predicts the life expectancy of a male or female elderly, there is a higher likelihood for the male to have a lower one.
Lifestyle Choices
According to a study published in Age and Aging, adopting five or more healthy lifestyles can help significantly increase an individual’s life expectancy. Your lifespan isn’t only dependent on your genetics or gender but also on factors like social-economic status, lifestyle choices, and access to health care. The study results showed a direct correlation between great longevity for men and women to the high number of modified healthy behaviors they practiced. The lifetime gains were higher for people who reduced their alcohol intake, lost weight, increased sleep, and stopped smoking.
Also, your social-economic status does matter, as people with sufficient finances can access better healthcare than those without. With better healthcare, your life expectancy significantly increases.
A life care planner will consider your social-economic status when deciding your care. Based on what they find, they can use it to try and determine your life expectancy.
Medical Conditions
The last factor influencing life expectancy in life care planning is the medical condition. People with a history of injuries or illnesses have a higher mortality than the average population. However, some medical conditions have a longer life expectancy than others.
Your life care planner will use your medical records to assess your life expectancy. Based on the doctor’s reports, they can develop a plan that suits your care needs.
While it may not look okay for anyone to determine another individual’s life expectancy, It does help in accurately planning rehabilitative and medical care. And with the correct data from the factors above, your loved one can receive the treatment care they deserve.
Remember, the devil is in the details when it comes to life care planning. This is why the life care planner needs to get every aspect, including life expectancy, right. Since mistakes may happen, always ensure you check everything your life care planner outlines before signing the report.
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