Diabetes and American’s Baby Boomers

Diabetes in America is diagnosed more than twice as much to American Baby Boomers than for the same age bracket in other countries like England. Further research shows that U.S. adults ages 70-80 may live a bit longer, but they are less healthy and have more chronic diseases than those the same age in England, researchers say. James P. Smith of the Rand Corp. and James Banks and Alastair Muriel of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London found Americans ages 55-64 have higher rates of chronic diseases than those the same age in England but die at about the same rate.

However, Americans age 65 and older — also sicker than their English counterparts — have a lower death rate than those in England,

In an earlier study, the researchers had found U.S. adults ages 55-64 suffered from diseases such as diabetes at up to twice the rate as those the same age in England — across all socioeconomic groups.

The study, published in the journal Demography, found in those ages 70-80, diabetes rates were almost twice as high in the United States as in England and cancer prevalence was more than twice as high in the United States as in England.

“The United States’ health problem is not fundamentally a healthcare or insurance problem, at least at older ages,” Banks said in a statement. “It is a problem of excess illness and the solution to that problem may lie outside the healthcare delivery system. The solution may be to alter lifestyles or other behaviors.”

News Source: ThirdAge