- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Disability
rates have risen sharply in the past two decades among those under 60,
and obesity appears to be the main reason, a study released Thursday said.
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- The Rand Corp. study - published in the journal Health
Affairs - said the health of young Americans is getting worse. It found
the number of people ages 30 to 49 who could not care for themselves or
do other routine tasks increased by more than half from 1984 to 2000. Meanwhile,
the elderly have become less likely to suffer such disabilities.
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- "We've always had the assumption that medical science
is advancing and that people are getting healthier, but that is not the
case," said Darius Lakdawalla, lead author of the study.
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- For those 30- to 39-years-old, the number reporting disabilities
increased from 118 per 10,000 people to 182 per 10,000 people from 1984
to 1996. Among those 40- to 49-years-old, the number rose from 212 per
10,000 to 278 per 10,000 in the same period.
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- There were smaller but still significant increases for
people ages 18 to 29 as well as those 50 to 59, the study found.
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- However, disability declined by more than 10 per cent
for those 60 to 69, the study said.
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- The leading causes of disability are mental illness and
musculoskeletal problems - such as chronic back pain - which are linked
to obesity.
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- The number of cases stemming from musculoskeletal problems
and diabetes grew more rapidly than those from other problems during the
length of the study. The proportion that were diabetes-related doubled.
Obesity is a major factor in the development of diabetes.
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- "People today find it's very cheap to eat and expensive
to exercise," Mr. Lakdawalla said.
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- The ballooning obesity problem is not the only culprit,
the study says.
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- The growth in disability could be the result of increased
incentives to report disability and could be linked to advancing medical
technology, the report said. Medical advances have saved people who normally
would have died, but many end up needing help and going on disability.
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- Researchers warned that the increase in the disability
rate could mean higher health care costs in the future.
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- The Rand Corp., a nonprofit research group, studied people
between the ages of 18 and 69 using data from the National Health Interview
Survey which gathers information from about 36,000 households annually.
The data covered the years 1984 to 2000.
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- Support for the study was provided by the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Institute on Aging.
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- © 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
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- http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2004
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