Midlife chronic disease counts rose in most countries
Adults aged 50–58 surveyed in 2014 reported 0.22 more chronic conditions in the US than those of the same age surveyed in 2006.
Multicenter
Limit: Disease counts relied on self-reports
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Adults aged 50–58 in 13 countries were compared in an observational study using four long-running health studies. Researchers compared groups surveyed in 2006 and 2014, each followed for four years. They measured disease burden by counting how many of eight chronic conditions participants reported.
The later group had higher counts in over half of the countries. The reported increase was 0.22 conditions in the US and 0.36 in Switzerland. South Korea recorded a decline of 0.12 conditions. Increases were larger among women in the US, while South Korea’s decline was concentrated among women. The authors suggested that policy environments may play a critical role in limiting increases in disease burden.
Why it matters
Tracking chronic disease in midlife helps address whether longer lives come with less or more illness.
Caveats
The disease counts relied on self-reports, and the observational comparisons cannot establish that national policies caused the differences. The results concern midlife health, not health across the full lifespan.
