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The United States is on the brink of a longevity revolution. By 2030, the
proportion of the U.S. population aged 65 and older will double to about 71
million older adults, or one in every five Americans. The far-reaching
implications of the increasing number of older Americans and their growing
diversity will include unprecedented demands on public health, aging
services, and the nation’s health care system.
Chronic diseases exact a particularly heavy health and economic burden
on older adults due to associated long-term illness, diminished quality of
life, and greatly increased health care costs. Although the risk of
disease and disability clearly increases with advancing age, poor health
is not an inevitable consequence of aging.
Much of the illness, disability, and death associated with chronic
disease is avoidable through known prevention measures. Key measures
include practicing a healthy lifestyle (e.g., regular physical activity,
healthy eating, and avoiding tobacco use) and the use of early detection
practices (e.g., screening for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers,
diabetes and its complications, and depression).
Critical knowledge gaps exist for responding to the health needs of
older adults. For chronic diseases and conditions such as Alzheimer's
disease, arthritis, depression, psychiatric disorders, osteoporosis,
Parkinson's disease, and urinary incontinence, much remains to be learned
about their distribution in the population, associated risk factors, and
effective measures to prevent or delay their onset.
One or more documents on this Web page is available in Portable Document Format
(PDF). You will need Acrobat
Reader (a free application) to view and print these documents.
Page last reviewed: October 27, 2008
Page last modified: November 24, 2008
Content source: Division of Adult
and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion |
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