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The more ailments one has after retirement age, the shorter would be the life expectancy, according to a new study. The study also added that nearly four in five older Americans are living with multiple chronic medical conditions.

The study is first to analyze the burden of multiple chronic conditions on life expectancy among the elderly.

The findings of the study may also help explain why increases in life expectancy among older Americans are slowing.

"Living with multiple chronic diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease and heart failure is now the norm and not the exception in the United States," said Eva H. DuGoff, a recent PhD recipient at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and lead author of the report, in the press release. "The medical advances that have allowed sick people to live longer may not be able to keep up with the growing burden of chronic disease. It is becoming very clear that preventing the development of additional chronic conditions in the elderly could be the only way to continue to improve life expectancy."

Life expectancy in the U.S. is rising more slowly than in other parts of the developed world, the press release further added. According to experts, obesity epidemic and its related health conditions are to be blamed.

On average, life expectancy is reduced by 1.8 years with each additional chronic condition, the study found.

"We already knew that living with multiple chronic conditions affects an individual's quality of life, now we know the impact on quantity of life," DuGoff added in the press release. "The growing burden of chronic disease could erase decades of progress. We don't want to turn around and see that life expectancy gains have stopped or reversed."

The study will appear in the August issue of the journal Medical Care.