In the United states, 3 out of every 4 Americans over age 65 have at least one chronic medical condition. A “chronic medical condition” is defined as a medical problem that will last at least a year, and requires ongoing medical care.
The high rate of chronic medical conditions is partly due to sedentary lifestyle, the obesity epidemic, and tobacco smoking.
Among Medicare patients, 93% of total spending is on chronic health conditions.
More than one third of Americans over 65 are obese, 27% do not engage in any regular exercise, and 8% are smokers.
Chronic medical conditions includes diabetes, which now affects 23% of the older population. One third of older Americans have high blood pressure, and 5% have congestive heart failure.
Only 1% of our health care dollars is spent on public efforts to improve overall health.
Healthfacts.blog 