NIA Home > About NIA > Strategic Plan > Research Goal A
Older Americans are relatively healthy and independent, with a large proportion free of disabilities. Many older persons lead fulfilling lives and continue to make important contributions both within their families and to society in general. Achieving and maintaining health and function in advanced years can be aided by a commitment to a life style that promotes fitness, proper nutrition, and avoidance of smoking and other behaviors that adversely affect health. Even if healthy habits have been neglected, research has shown that it is almost never too late to begin these habits. Better health habits not only help people survive longer but postpone the onset of disability and compress functional loss into fewer years at the end of life.
Recent research has shown that disability levels for people age 65 and older have been falling at an accelerating pace since 1982, and that the benefits of this trend extend both to men and women and to minority groups. This decline contributes to improved functional ability for individuals and could have important economic and social implications. The need to maintain or accelerate this decline is urgent. By the year 2030, the number of Americans over age 65 will more than double, and by 2050, the number of Americans over age 85 will increase four-fold or more, placing a significantly greater number of people at risk for disability. Extending the current level of disability decline over the next 50 years could prevent increasing the number of disabled Americans in the face of the demographic challenge posed by the baby boom and overall population aging.
Initiatives are being developed to:
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