April 30, 2009
via abledody.com
More than 20 percent of the nation's population - or 1 in 5 Americans -has a disability, and this number will increase as baby boomers age, according to a new report by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of Americans with a disability rose 7.7 percent, or by 3.4 million people, to 47.5 million between 1999 and 2005, said the CDC in its weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The aging of the population, particularly the baby boomers who were born during 1946 to 1964, has significantly contributed to the increase in disability rates.
The three most common causes of disability continued to be arthritis or rheumatism, which affects 8.6 million people, followed by back or spine problems, reported by 7.6 million Americans. The third cause, heart trouble, was reported by 3 million Americans.
Women had a significantly higher prevalence of disability compared with men at all ages. The CDC also found that the number of people reporting a disability doubled for each successive age group, with about 11 percent of people ages 18 to 44 reporting a disability; 23.9 percent for ages 45 to 64; and 51.8 percent for ages 65 or older.
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Posted
May 05 2009, 05:22 PM
by
BusyBee
Filed under: U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, aging baby boom generation, Amputee Coalition, back problems, CDC figures likely conservative, Center for Hearing and Communications, IEDs, women higher prevalence of disability, arthritis, hearing loss, heart disease, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, disability, tinnitus, soldiers, PTSD, American Foundation for the Blind, more than 20 percent of Americans