A national study showed that recent generations are exhibiting an alarming drop in health compared to their parents and grandparents when they were at the same age.
According to News-Medical.net, the study authors found that compared to earlier generations, members of the so-called Generation X and Generation Y or millennials exhibited poorer physical health, higher levels of unhealthy practices like use of alcohol and smoking, and more anxiety and depression.
The study's lead author and The Ohio State University sociology professor Hui Zheng said, their findings suggest the possibility of higher levels of diseases and more mortalities in younger generations compared to what was seen in the past.
The lead author conducted the research with Paola Echave, an Ohio State sociology graduate student. Their findings were published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Are Recent Cohorts Getting Worse? Trends in U.S. Adult Physiological Status, Mental Health, and Health Behaviors across a Century of Birth Cohorts).
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The possibility of heavy drinking has constantly risen across generations for both whites and Black males, specifically after late-Gen X or those born between 1973 and 1980.
Worsening Physical Health Baby Boomer Generation Through Gen X and Gen Y
The study investigators used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-2016 which involved more than 62,000 respondents, and the national Health Interview Survey involving over 625,000 respondents, both done by the National Center for Health Statistics.
The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-2016 (62,833 respondents) and the National Health Interview Survey 1997-2018 (625,221 respondents), both conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Specifically, they used a single marker of inflammation, low urinary albumin and one additional marker of renal function, creatinine clearance.
As a result, the researchers discovered that the gauges of physical health have worsened from the Baby Boomer generation through Gen X or those born between 1965 and 1980, and millennials or those born between 1981 and 1999.
Increases in Metabolic Syndrome and Chronic Inflammation
For whites, as indicated in the research too, increases in metabolic syndrome were found to be the main culprit, while rise in chronic inflammation were seen most in Black Americans, men in particular.
According to Zheng, the drop in trends in recent generations is a shocking result adding that, it is suggesting that there may have a challenging health prospect in the United States in the years to come.
The lead author also said, it is outside the study's scope to expansively explain the reasons behind this drop in health of the Gen X and Gen Y people.
The study investigators did check two factors though. As a result of their checking, they discovered that smoking could not explain the drop. Obesity could contribute to the explanation of such an increase in metabolic syndrome, although not the rise observed in chronic inflammation.
It was not just the overall health markers, explained Zheng, that is worrying for some member of these younger generations.
Results revealed that levels of depression and anxiety have increased for each generation of whites belonging to the so-called War Babies generation or those born between 1943 and 1945 through Gen Y.
As Levels of these two mental health indicators did rise for Blacks up until the early Baby Boomers generation, the rate has been flat in general, since then.
Worrying Health Behaviors
The possibility of heavy drinking has constantly risen across generations for both whites and Black males, specifically after late-Gen X or those born between 1973 and 1980.
The study found, for whites and Blacks, the possibility of using street drugs was at its peak at late-Boomers or those born between 1956 and 1964, reduced afterward, then increased again, for late-Gen X.
In general, the lead author said, their results propose that without effective policy interventions, such worrying health behaviors will not be temporary, but a battle needed to continue to fight.
A related report about health concerns for millennials is shown on PrincetonHealth's YouTube video below:
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