Patterns: Picture of Health as America Ages

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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/18/health/aging/18PATT.html

Patterns: Picture of Health as America Ages

By ERIC NAGOURNEY

Any doubt that the American population is aging can be put to rest by a quick glance at a new report issued by the federal government.

Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts a survey to see who is going to doctors and why.

It provides a picture, or sorts, of the health of the nation, said Donald Cherry, a survey statistician who helped prepare the study.

 


 

The picture is distinctly gray. In 2000, the last year studied, Americans continued a decade-long trend of making more visits to doctors. The centers attributed the pattern to population growth and an increase in the number of elderly patients, with the average age rising from 40 to 43. Americans visited doctors 823 million times in 2000, the report said.

The nature of those visits also reflects the aging population.

The survey notes that over the past several years, the number of drugs prescribed for cardiovascular problems has risen by about a fifth. Doctor visits that resulted in hormone prescriptions went up by a quarter, and visits that brought recommendations for supplements like vitamins or calcium went up by about 40 percent.

The report gives numerous other windows into the changing health of Americans. In 1997, for example, diabetes was the eighth most frequent diagnosis. In 2000 it was third — a reflection, experts said, of Americans' increasing problem with weight.

When the government decided to measure for the first time inroads of alternative or complementary medicine, including acupuncture and massage, it found that doctors ordered or provided such therapy in 31 million visits.


 

 

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