HEALTHY BABY BOOMER

Education and Training > Language and Speech Services

From 1946 through 1964, 78 million children (“baby boomers”) were born in the United States. In 2010, baby boomers made up 26.1% of the US population.1 Medicine has improved significantly during baby boomers' lifetimes. Although these advantages have led to a progressively increasing life expectancy,2 previous studies have shown mixed results regarding whether baby boomers are healthier than prior generations.3,4 The present study examined the health status of aging baby boomers relative to the previous generation to provide a vitally important context for health workforce and policy planning in the coming years.We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), including NHANES III (1988-1994) (for previous generation) and the NHANES for 2007 to 2010 (for baby boomers), focusing on respondents who were aged 46 to 64 years during either period. The 2 cohorts were compared with regard to health status, functional and work disability, healthy lifestyle characteristics, and presence of chronic disease. Further details of the methods can be found in the eAppendix.The demographic characteristics of the cohorts were very similar except for the proportions in each racial/ethnic group, with greater proportions of non-Hispanic blacks (11.3% vs 9.4%) and Hispanics (9.8% vs 3.7%) in the 2007-2010 group compared with the 1988-1994 group (P < .001). The mean (SD) ages were 54.1 (0.03) years in the 2007-2010 group and 54.5 (0.03) years in the 1988-1994 group; there was no difference in sex between the 2 cohorts (49.1% male [2007-2010 group] vs 47.5% male [1988-1994 group]). Overall health status was lower in baby boomers, with 13.2% reporting “excellent” health compared with 32% of individuals in the previous generation (P < .001). Of the sampled baby boomers, compared with the previous generation, 6.9% vs 3.3% used a walking assist device (P < .001), 13.8% vs 10.1% were limited in work (P = .003), and 13.5% vs 8.8% had a functional limitation (P < .001).

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