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Changes in the Process of Aging During the Twentieth Century: Findings and Procedures of the Early Indicators Project

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  • Robert W. Fogel

Abstract

The program project Early Indicators of Later Work Levels, Disease and Death investigates how socioeconomic and environmental factors in early life can shape health and work levels in later life. Project researchers have approached this problem by creating a life-cycle sample that permits a longitudinal study of the aging of Union Army veterans, the first cohort to reach age 65 during the twentieth century. Comparing Union Army data with data from NHANES and NHIS has shown that age-specific prevalence rates of specific chronic diseases and disabilities were much higher in the century before World War II among both young and old than today. Moreover, the number of comorbidities at each age has fallen sharply. Also, the average age at onset of chronic diseases was more than a decade later at the end of the twentieth century than at the beginning. The implications of these findings for several issues in health economics are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert W. Fogel, 2003. "Changes in the Process of Aging During the Twentieth Century: Findings and Procedures of the Early Indicators Project," NBER Working Papers 9941, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9941
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Verbrugge, Lois M. & Jette, Alan M., 1994. "The disablement process," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-14, January.
    2. Larry T. Wimmer, 2003. "Reflections on the Early Indicators Project.A Partial History," NBER Chapters, in: Health and Labor Force Participation over the Life Cycle: Evidence from the Past, pages 1-10, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Costa, Dora L. (ed.), 2003. "Health and Labor Force Participation over the Life Cycle," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226116181.
    4. Werner Troesken & Patricia E. Beeson, 2003. "The Significance of Lead Water Mains in American Cities. Some Historical Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: Health and Labor Force Participation over the Life Cycle: Evidence from the Past, pages 181-202, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Werner Troesken, 2003. "Lead Water Pipes and Infant Mortality in Turn-of-the-Century Massachusetts," NBER Working Papers 9549, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Timothy Waidmann & John Bound & Michael Schoenbaum, 1995. "The Illusion of Failure: Trends in the Self-Reported Health of the U.S. Elderly," NBER Working Papers 5017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Dora L. Costa, 2003. "Health and Labor Force Participation over the Life Cycle: Evidence from the Past," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number cost03-1, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kelly Bedard & Olivier Deschênes, 2006. "The Long-Term Impact of Military Service on Health: Evidence from World War II and Korean War Veterans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 176-194, March.
    2. Máximo Rossi & Patricia Triunfo, 2004. "El Estado de Salud del Adulto Mayor en Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1404, Department of Economics - dECON.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7972 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Arora Suchit, 2012. "Understanding Aging during the Epidemiologic Transition," Working Papers 12-07, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    5. Siegfried Geyer & Sveja Eberhard & Bernhard Magnus W Schmidt & Jelena Epping & Juliane Tetzlaff, 2018. "Morbidity compression in myocardial infarction 2006 to 2015 in terms of changing rates and age at occurrence: A longitudinal study using claims data from Germany," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, August.
    6. Dora L. Costa & Heather DeSomer & Eric Hanss & Christopher Roudiez & Sven E. Wilson & Noelle Yetter, 2017. "Union Army veterans, all grown up," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 79-95, April.
    7. repec:dau:papers:123456789/3883 is not listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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