The analysis of the state of health of the different generations shows that the way of life of the youngest is deteriorating, compared to the older generations when they were the same age.
- The increase in the number of obese people contributes to the deterioration of the state of health of the younger generations in the USA
- The risk is to see the development of chronic diseases with the aging of these generations
The health of young people is deteriorating. In the United States, researchers at the University of Ohio are alarmed by this phenomenon. In American Journal of Epidemiology, they present the results of their study on the subject. Thanks to data dating from 1988 to 2018, they were able to see that today’s young people are in worse health than yesterday’s young people. “The deterioration in the health of young people, which we have seen in generations X and Y, is alarming“, announces Hui Zheng, lead author of this research. Generation X represents people born between 1966 and 1976, and Generation Y those born between 1980 and 1990.”If we do nothing to slow this trendhe continues, we are going to potentially face increased death rates as these generations age.”
Different criteria analyzed
To reach these conclusions, he based himself on the notion of metabolic syndrome: a series of factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and diabetes. These include waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and body mass index (BMI). With his team, the scientist also looked at the albumin level in the urine, which is a sign of inflammation. They note that these different data are less good for the latest generations, compared to the previous one. They result in an increase in metabolic syndromes in whites in the United States, and an increase in chronic inflammation in black Americans, say the scientists. For Hui Zheng, it is a “discovery shocking“.
What explains this decline?
Several lifestyle differences between these generations may explain the deterioration in the state of health of young people. The prevalence of obesity in the country contributes, at least in part, to the rise in cases of metabolic syndrome. In the United States, 39% of the population is obese. However, researchers find that other habit changes contribute to this phenomenon. In the country, anxiety and depression are much more common in the new generation, compared to the previous one. Drug use has also increased for Generation X, whereas it had previously decreased. Alcoholism is also more common. “The results suggest that the likelihood of having ever smoked increased continuously across generations.“, explain the researchers, while the consumption of cigarettes has been only decreasing in the country since the end of the 1970s.”One possibility is that people from older generations are more likely to quit smoking, while younger people are more likely to start.” With his team, they intend to continue their research on the causes of this deterioration in the health of young people. Hui Zheng is already calling for the implementation of public health policies to prevent these generations from suffering from chronic diseases. when they get old.
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