More Disabilities Today than Previous Generations

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In a development that could have significant ramifications for the nation's health care system, Baby Boomers may well be entering their 60s suffering far more disabilities than their counterparts did in previous generations, according to a new UCLA study. The findings, researchers say, may be due in part to changing American demographics.

In the study, which was published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, researchers from the division of geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that the cohort of individuals between the ages of 60 and 69 exhibited increases in several types of disabilities over time. By contrast, those between the ages of 70 and 79 and those aged 80 and over saw no significant increases "and in some cases exhibited fewer disabilities than their previous cohorts.

While the study focused on groups born before the post-World War II Baby Boom, the findings hold "significant and sobering implications" for health care because they suggest that people now entering their 60s could have even more disabilities, putting an added burden on an already fragile system and boosting health costs for society as a whole, researchers say.

"If this is true, it's something we need to address," said Teresa Seeman, UCLA professor of medicine and epidemiology and the study's principal investigator. "If this trend continues unchecked, it will put increasing pressure on our society to care for these disabled individuals. This would burden the health care system more to address the higher levels of these problems."

The researchers used two sets of data, "the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) for 1988 and 1999," to examine how disabilities for the three groups of adults aged 60, 70, and 80 and older had changed over time. They assessed disability trends in four areas:

• Basic activities associated with daily living, such as walking from room to room and getting into and out of bed.
• Instrumental activities, such as household chores or preparing meals.
• Mobility, including walking a one-quarter mile or climbing ten steps without stopping for rest.
• Functional limitations include stooping, crouching, or kneeling.

The study focused primarily on trends for the more recent 60 age group "born between 1930 and 1944, just before the Baby Boom, whose data was included in the 1999 NHANES. In particular, researchers felt this group could offer insights into the health of the Boomers following them, who are now entering their 60s.

The researchers found that between 1988 and 1999, disability among those in their 60s increased between 40 and 70 percent in each area studied except functional limitations, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, health status and behaviors, and relative weight. The increases were considerably higher among non-white and overweight subgroups.

By contrast, the researchers found no significant changes among the group aged 70 to 79, while the 80-plus group saw a drop in functional limitations.

One reason for this uptick, researchers say, is that disabilities may be linked with the changing racial and ethnic makeup of the group that recently reached or will soon be reaching its 60s, with the most rapid growth projected to be among African Americans and Hispanics groups with significantly higher rates of obesity and lower socioeconomic status, both of which are associated with higher risk for functional limitations and disabilities.

The researchers note that their controls for differences in socio-demographics, health status (such as chronic conditions and biological risk factors), and health behavior do not completely explain the increase in disability trends among 60 to 69-year-olds. Still, the trends within that group "are disturbing," Seeman said.

"Increases in disability in that group are concerning because it's a big group," she said. "These may be people who have long histories of being overweight, and we may be seeing the consequences. We're not sure why these disabilities are going up. But if this trend continues, it could have a major impact on us due to the resources that must be devoted to those people."

Study co-authors included Arun Karlamangla and Sharon Merkin of UCLA's geriatrics division, and Eileen Crimmins, of the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California.

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer reviewed article relating to our Disability Information section was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its likely interest to our disability community readers. Though the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or length, the article "More Disabilities Today than Previous Generations" was originally written by University of California - Los Angeles, and published by Disabled-World.com on 2009/11/13 (Updated: 2023/02/23). Should you require further information or clarification, University of California - Los Angeles can be contacted at ucla.edu. Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

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