The Israeli woman outlives her male counterpart by only three years, as compared with a five-year gap between the life expectancies of American and European men and women, according to a recent survey by the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
The survey also indicates that Israeli women are more likely to suffer from heart conditions, which is the major cause of death in Israel, than are other Western women. More Israeli women of North African origin are afflicted with heart ailments than are women of Western backgrounds.
Prof. Sidney Kook of Hadassah explained that the tensions involved in the transitions from one country and culture to another, and from village to urban life, are responsible for the greater incidence of heart conditions among Israeli women of North African origin.
The Hadassah research also sheds light on the physical condition of the Israeli population as a whole, which has been adversely affected by the continual stress under which Israeli citizens live. Those Israelis who migrated from Western countries suffer less stress because their adjustment has not been as difficult as that of Eastern Jews.
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