Baby Boomers Sicker Than Parents’ Generation, Study Finds

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/baby-boomers-sicker-than-parents-generation-study-finds.html

Baby boomers have more chronic illness and disability than their parents, as their sedentary habits and expanding girth offset the modern medicine that enables them to live longer, a study said.

Baby boomers, the 78 million Americans born from 1946 through 1964, engage in less physical activity, are more overweight and have higher rates of hypertension and high cholesterol, according to a study released yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study, among the first to compare the generations, shows that baby boomers aren’t as healthy and active as most would believe, said Dana E. King, the lead author. They become sicker earlier in life than the previous generation, are more limited in what they can do at work and are more likely to need the use of a cane or walker, the research found.

“The results of this study say you become sicker sooner and you are burdened with chronic disease and are taking medications yet you live longer,” King, a professor of family medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, said in a Feb. 1 telephone interview. “We are not as healthy as we think. There needs to be a new emphasis and continued attention to programs to improve healthy lifestyles in this age group.”