Sixty-one million adults in the United States and one billion adults globally have at least one disability that includes: problems with hearing, vision, forming memories, concentration, thinking, movement, or completing everyday tasks. Among older adults who are 65 years old or older, 40% experience a disability. Many other factors besides age, such as gender, socioeconomic status, location of residence, and ethnicity, can also influence the risk of having a disability. Previous research also studies the correlation between risk for a disability and access to healthcare services.
In a cross-sectional study observing data on the rates of disabilities among 5.4 million older adults between 2008 and 2017, researchers investigated trends in the prevalence of disability occurrence. Researchers gathered data using surveys from the American Community Survey. The study observed there was an 18% decrease in the risk of having a disability relating to caring for oneself and a 13% decrease in disability risk for activities that require movement. After nine years, there were 3.8% fewer adults experiencing disabilities by 2017. Despite gradual improvements in the percentage of older adults affected by disability, the change is not uniform across all age cohorts in the study. For younger older adults in the age range 65 to 74, their decrease in disability risk was not as stark as the decrease for participants 75 and older. According to Esme Fuller-Thomson, director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging, these differences in the percentages of disability risk may relate to obesity in older adults. Thus, she emphasizes the need to be cognizant of how obesity may impact future trends in disability risk as the 65 to 74 age cohort gets older, calling for the importance of preventative measures addressing obesity and health impairments related to disabilities.
Some older adults with disabilities live in assisted living facilities where they obtain support in completing daily tasks of eating, dressing, and bathing.
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The decline in the prevalence of disabilities among older adults corresponds with various lifestyle factors such as exercise and smoking. Activities that increase exercise levels correlate to decreased disability risk; a 2001 study found that participants placed in an aerobic or resistance exercise group showed a decrease in instances of limitations in completing daily tasks. In addition, observing behaviors from older adults in a study conducted in Sweden, individuals who had ten or more cigarettes a day had higher odds of developing disabilities as they aged. Increased smoking could indicate circumstances in an individual’s life, such as increased levels of stress that could explain the study’s result of a positive correlation between smoking and disability risk. It is essential to understand the relationship between various factors and disability risk and be aware that multiple influences can be potential predictors of disability.
Addressing trends in disability risk and behaviors that can affect risk provides more insight into how we can learn about preventative measures for disability relating to age.
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