Trends in the health of older Americans, 1970-2005

Health Affairs

Volumn 26, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 1417-1425

  Kramarow, Ellen ^a   Lubitz, James ^b   Lentzner, Harold ^b   Gorina, Yelena ^b  

^a NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS   (United States)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AGED; ELDERLY CARE; FEMALE; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH SURVEY; HOSPITALIZATION; HUMAN; LONG TERM CARE; MALE; MORTALITY; POPULATION DYNAMICS; PRESCRIPTION; REVIEW; STATISTICS; UNITED STATES; UTILIZATION REVIEW;

AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; FEMALE; HEALTH EXPENDITURES; HEALTH SERVICES FOR THE AGED; HEALTH STATUS INDICATORS; HOSPITALIZATION; HUMANS; LONG-TERM CARE; MALE; MORTALITY; POPULATION DYNAMICS; PRESCRIPTIONS, DRUG; UNITED STATES;

EID: 35148838034     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 02782715     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.26.5.1417     Document Type: Review

References (50)

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4. Trends are evaluated from 1970, when deaths were classified in the International Classification of Diseases, Eighth Revision (ICD-8); through ICD-9, 1979 to 1998; and five years into the new tenth revision (ICD-10), through 2004. Interpretation of mortality trends over a long period is complicated by revisions in classification. However, profound changes - for example, the drop in deaths from circulatory diseases in the second half of the century - are apparent across these changes in classification.
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6. BMI is a measure that adjusts weight for height. It is calculated asweight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared.
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10. In the National Health Interview Survey, height and weight are self-reported, not measured as in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In validation studies of self-reported weight and height, participants tend to under-estimate their weight and to overestimate their height. See, for example, I. Niedhammer et al., "Validity of Self-Reported Weight and Height in the French GAZEL Cohort," International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 24, no. 9 (2000): 1111-1118.
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17. A similar finding was reported in M.E. Chernew et al., "Disability and Health Care Spending among Medicare Beneficiaries," Health Affairs 24 (2005): r42-r52 (published online 26 September 2005; 10.1377/hlthaff.W5.R42).
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21. See, for example, J. Oeppen and J.W. Vaupel, "Demography: Broken Limits to Life Expectancy," Science 296, no. 5570 (2002): 1029-1031;
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33. See, for example, D.C. Grabowski and J.E. Ellis, "High Body Mass Index Does Not Predict Mortality in Older People: Analysis of the Longitudinal Study of Aging," Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 49, no. 7 (2001): 968-979;
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37. See, for example, M.L. Daviglus et al., "Relation of Body Mass Index in Young Adulthood and Middle Age to Medicare Expenditures in Older Age," Journal of the American Medical Association 292, no. 22 (2004): 2743-2749;
38. Yan et al., "Midlife Body Mass Index";
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43. See, for example, D. Shactman et al., "The Outlook for Hospital Spending," Health Affairs 22, no. 6 (2003): 12-26;
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46. Chernew et al., "Disability and Health Care Spending."
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49. K.E. Thorpe et al., "The Rising Prevalence of Treated Disease: Effects on Private Health Insurance Spending," Health Affairs 24 (2005): w317-w325 (published online 27 June 2005; 10.1377/hlthaff.w5.317);
50. and K.E. Thorpe and D.H. Howard, "The Rise in Spending among Medicare Beneficiaries: The Role of Chronic Disease Prevalence and Changes in Treatment Intensity," Health Affairs 25, no. 5 (2006): w378-w388 (published online 22 August 2006; 10.1377/hlthaff.25.w378).