Poll: Chronic disease swells in middle age

PRINCETON, N.J., April 30 (UPI) -- From age 30 to 60, Americans are increasingly diagnosed with hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes, but by age 75 cases taper off, a survey indicates.

The findings are based on 24 months of Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index daily tracking data from 2009 through 2010, involving 650,000 U.S. adults.

The Gallup-Healthways survey asked participants if a medical professional had told them they have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.

From 2009 to 2010, an average of 31 percent reported ever having been diagnosed with high blood pressure, 27 percent reported high cholesterol and 11 percent diabetes.

U.S. adults reporting they were told they have high blood pressure rose steadily from 5 percent of 18-year-olds to 57 percent of 70-year-olds. The rate then plateaus at about 60 percent among those in their 70s and 80s.

The percentage ever diagnosed with high cholesterol holds in single digits from age 18 through 31, but increases from 10 percent at age 32, 43 percent at age 60, 50 percent by age 66, after which it stabilizes until age 80 when it dips.

People diagnosed with diabetes remained in single digits from age 18 to their 40s, when type 2 diabetes becomes a greater risk with 23 percent at age 68 reporting the disease. The percentage then falls to 17 percent by age 89 -- most likely because those with diabetes die earlier.

Overall, the margin of error is 1 percentage point, but the margin of error for individual age groups was 3 percentage points.