Life Before Death: Trends in Health at the End of Life, 1997–2009

Yana Vierboom , University of Pennsylvania

Larger shares of the population are reaching older ages than ever before in the nation’s history, inviting the question of whether trends are moving towards healthier, and not just longer, lives. In this paper, I use data from the 1997-2009 National Health Interview Surveys linked to death records to investigate trends in three health outcomes at the end of life among respondents who died between taking the survey and 2011. I consider trends in disability, mental health, and self-reported health, stratified by those dying within a certain amount of time from the baseline interview. I use a regression framework to estimate annual change in health outcomes while controlling for secular changes in the characteristics of death cohorts. I additionally examine the characteristics of individuals who experience either short or long periods of poor health prior to death. Preliminary results suggest little change in end-of-life health across the study period.

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 Presented in Session 6. Health & Mortality & Aging