How sick are older people?

Abstract

The medical practitioner, the hospital administrator, the visiting nurse, or the family social worker, all of whom see an increasing number of older people in need of medical care or services, probably would answer the question "How sick are older people?" with an overwhelming consensus: "Older people are very sick." The 15 million people 65 years of age and over in the United States, and those relatives and friends to whom older people would turn in a health crisis, however, give a different answer to this question. Most older people, as many as 8 or 9 of every 10, would say "I've a lot of things wrong with me, but I'm not really very sick!" Only a small proportion of the 15 million older people in the United States are in institutions. The number in institutions has been estimated at between 450,000 and 750,000, or from 3 to 5% of