A new Israeli study reveals that compared to the general
Israeli-born population, Holocaust survivors are less
healthy but live longer.
Previous studies showed that Holocaust survivors suffer more
from various diseases but their life span does not reflect
this. The present study, published in the Gama publication,
involved 38,000 survivors compared to an Israeli-born
control group of 34,900, and shows that the former have
higher blood pressure and suffer from overweight, kidney
diseases (three times as high), heart disease and
osteoporosis.
These results were surprising when compared with data about
a higher life expectancy of survivors - 25% as compared to
41% of the control group. On an average, the life expectancy
of a Holocaust survivor is estimated to be 84.7 years as
compared to 77.7 of Israelis.
The team of researchers, headed by Professor Nachman Esh,
estimates that these findings are probably attributed to the
survivors' higher sensitivity to health, greater social
benefits and a general higher stamina.
