Survivor Health

From US News:

"Holocaust Survivors Are Sicker But Live Longer, Study Says"

Israel's Holocaust survivors tend to live longer, on average, than Israelis who were not exposed to the genocide, despite being in poorer health overall, according to new research published today by JAMA Network Open. Survivors of the Holocaust have higher rates of several chronic health conditions than the general population in Israel, but live an average of seven years longer, the study found. Researchers say survivors' longevity may be owed to a genetic predisposition that helped keep them alive during the Holocaust, as well as a resiliency they gained as a result of the trauma. "That's an enigma, to some extent," says Dr. Gideon Koren, author of the study and a senior investigator with the Kahn-Maccabi Institute of Research and Innovation, a medical research firm based in Tel Aviv. "How can you be sicker, but survive longer?" Authors of the study say a combination of factors likely contribute to survivors' differing health outcomes, and that further research is needed to fully understand the results. Researchers analyzed two decades of health data for nearly 39,000 Holocaust survivors who were born in Europe between 1911 and 1945, as well as about 35,000 people who were born in the future nation of Israel – at the time a territory under British rule – during the same years and served as the study's control group. All participants were insured by Maccabi Healthcare Services, an Israeli health plan with more than 2 million members. The study found that rates of various chronic conditions – including bone fractures among women, as well as cancer, obesity, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart attacks, chronic kidney disease and dementia among both men and women – were higher among Holocaust survivors than the general population. For example, 83 percent of Holocaust survivors in the study had hypertension, compared with 66.7 percent of those who were born in Israel during the same time frame. Among survivors, 30.9 percent had chronic kidney disease, while 19.8 percent of the control group had the condition.

^ It is a surprising study, but considering all the horrible atrocities that the Holocaust survivors had to go through during World War 2 it does make some sense. ^

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-01-04/holocaust-survivors-are-sicker-but-live-longer-study-says