Could Baby Boomers Be Approaching Retirement In Worse Shape Than Their Predecessors?
Americans in their early to mid-50s today report poorer health, more pain and more trouble doing everyday physical tasks than their older peers reported at the same age in years past, a recent analysis has shown. The research, published in print and online this week by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), was supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health. The study was conducted by Beth J. Soldo, Ph.D., Olivia Mitchell, Ph.D., and John McCabe, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, and Rania Tfaily, Ph.D., of Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario. The newly published report appears as part of NBERs Working Paper series and follows the analysis online appearance in 2006. It will also be published in a refereed volume from Oxford University Press in 2007. Using a summary health index developed for their analysis, the researchers compared the overall, self-reported health of people in three birth-year groups —
