Life expectancy is increasing in the baby boomer population. The state of health is deteriorating. Hypertension, diabetes and obesity are increasingly present in 55-64 year olds.
The baby boom generation is living longer, but not healthier. In their annual report on health in the United States, the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) devotes a section to adults born after World War II. The record is not good. They consume more drugs, and suffer more obesity than their peers born 10 years earlier.
The life expectancy of 55-64 year olds has increased from just over a year for whites, to almost three years for African Americans, the report notes, which also points out that cancer mortality and heart disease has receded. Accidental deaths continue to increase, but above all this population “is more and more affected by chronic diseases, which are the main cause of death and disability in the United States”, specify the authors.
Source: Health, United States, 2014
No more psychological distress
Chronic illnesses are increasingly common among baby boomers. High blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia now affect one in two seniors. It is the second pathology that has progressed the most in ten years. Psychiatric illnesses do not spare 55-64 year olds either. Severe psychological distress affects 4% of this age group, against 3% 10 years ago.
Source: Health, United States, 2014
A logical reflection of this poor state of health: the consumption of drugs. Prescriptions of anti-diabetics jump by 29%, those of cholesterol-lowering drugs by 54% in this age group.
Source: Health, United States, 2014
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