Baby Boomers Underutilize Preventative Medical Services

In a November 2009 report titled “Promoting Preventive Services for Adults 50–64: Community and Clinical Partnerships,” the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC; Georgia, USA)  finds that only 1 in 4 Americans ages 50 to 64 regularly take advantage of preventive services such as screenings and immunizations.  In that by the year 2015, an estimated 63 million US adults will be between the ages of 50 and 64, comprising 20% of the nation’s population, and are as a group at greater risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer than younger adults, the report aims to focus on opportunities to improve the health of the growing aging population and to broaden the use of potentially lifesaving preventive services.  The report also acknowledges the importance of addressing health disparities in the use of preventive services, identifying racial and ethnic factors as well as the fact that one-third of Baby Boomer Americans are uninsured or underinsured, which heightens the challenges of ensuring they receive critical preventive services.