Are boomers in worse shape than their elders?

Americans in their early to mid-50s today report poorer health, more pain and more trouble doing everyday physical tasks than their older peers reported at the same age in years past, according to a recent analysis published by the National Bureau of Economic Research .

The study showed:

• The two younger groups were less likely than the oldest group to have said their health was excellent or very good at 51 to 56 years of age.

• The youngest group reported having more pain, chronic health conditions, and drinking and psychiatric problems than people who were the same age 12 years earlier.

• Compared with the oldest group, the youngest group was more likely to have reported difficulty walking, climbing steps, getting up from a chair, kneeling or crouching, and doing other normal daily physical tasks.

In the past two decades, there has been a dramatic decline in disability among people 65 and older. Researchers and policymakers are vitally interested in whether this trend will continue, accelerate or decelerate with the retirement of the baby boom, a critically important question in planning for health, housing and other needs of this wave of retirees, who begin to turn 65 in 2011.