Disability and Care Needs of Older Americans: An Analysis of the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study

The economic cost of dependency at older ages is large and projected to grow rapidly as the number of older adults increases in the coming decades, and reduced well-being for individuals facing loss of functioning and their families, who provide the bulk of uncompensated care, also is an important societal concern. The purpose of this report is to describe disability and care needs of the older population using baseline (2011) measures from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, a new study designed to support understanding of both trends and trajectories in health and disability in later life. To provide a context for framing policy discussions of disability and care needs of older adults, Two overarching topics were investigated: (1) the extent of activity limitations and use of assistance by older adults; and (2) care resources available to and used by older adults and the extent of unmet need in the population with care needs. [32 PDF pages]