From 1997 to 2007, increasing proportions of people aged 50 to 64 attributed their need for help to back or neck problems, diabetes, and depression, anxiety or emotional problems. By 2005-07, the most common causes for needing help were these ailments plus arthritis or rheumatism. People who reported these conditions as causes were most likely to report that the ailments started at ages 30 to 49 years.

The reported increases in conditions causing disability may reflect real deterioration of health or improved awareness of conditions as a result of diagnosis and treatment. It also could be that improved medical care has extended the lives of people whose disabilities began early in life and who might have not survived to age 50 in earlier decades.

Despite continuing concerns about obesity in the United States, those needing help did not cite obesity as an important cause of their limitations.

"We have this uptick of people in their 50s and early 60s who say they need help with their daily activities of living and we're not sure why," said study co-author Vicki A. Freedman, a research professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. "But the patterns suggest the need for prevention and early intervention before the age of Medicare eligibility."

Source: RAND Corporation