BUZZFEED - With less than two months to go in the presidential campaign, the conversation around the candidates’ health — and the public’s right to know and speculate on it — is at the forefront. Headlines have been focusing on the candidates’ secrecy surrounding their medical records — and Clinton’s bout of pneumonia — often citing their age as a harrowing risk factor.
At 70, Donald Trump would be the oldest elected US president; Hillary Clinton, 68, would be the second oldest. But their age alone isn’t exactly a red flag. The current life expectancy for men and women aged 70 in the US is 84.4 and 86.6 respectively, according to the most recent data from CDC. And that’s more than enough to get you through two terms in office.
“From a general perspective, it’s very important to understand that having made it past 65 gives you an expected life expectancy that’s longer than what’s published as your life expectancy from birth,” said Dr. Anne Newman, chair of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and director of Pitt’s Center for Aging and Population Health. “It’s reasonable to expect if you make it to your late sixties that you’ll make it to your late eighties.”
....According to Newman, information that would be medically relevant would include a history of smoking, a history of heart attack and/or stroke, kidney functioning, and how often they get cancer screenings. Other risk factors that could be worth noting are cholesterol levels and blood pressure; if those are fine, then other subjects of speculation — like weight — may not be a factor.
Outside of all that, good genes and a family history of longevity would be your best bet for predicting health and life expectancy.
9/12/2016