A new analysis suggests that older people are less likely to be disabled than they were a decade ago.
The cost of medical care for a disabled older adult costs around three times as much as for an older adult who is not disabled. Around 20 per cent of the older US population has some form of chronic disability. For instance, eight per cent have cognitive impairments, around 33 per cent have a hearing impairment and one in three have mobility problems. With the population aging, this is a worrying prospect - as medical costs look set to soar.

However, researchers in Pennsylvania have been looking at evidence for changing trends in disability over the last decade. They find that, one the whole, rates of disability are actually decreasing. Now more research is needed into the causes of this trend. Are people adopting healthy lifestyles and are these having an impact? Or are people benefiting from better childhood nutrition? Without the answers, it will be difficult to encourage this positive trend through public health measures, or to plan care for older people who become disabled in the future.