Report card for Nation’s health focuses on young adults aged 18-29

February 18, 2009 by NCHS

Young adults in the United States aged 18-29 face a number of health challenges, including increases in obesity, high injury rates, and a lack of insurance coverage compared to other adults, according to the latest report on the nation’s health from NCHS.

Obesity rates have tripled among young adults in the past three decades, rising from 8 percent in 1971-74 to 24 percent in 2005-06.

In 2006, 29 percent of young men were current cigarette smokers compared to 21 percent of young adult women.
In 2005, unintentional injuries (‘‘accidents’’), homicide, and suicide accounted for 70 percent of deaths among young adults 18–29 years of age. Three-quarters of the 47,000 deaths in this age group occurred among young men.
In 2006, young adults aged 20–24 were more likely to be uninsured (34 percent) than those aged 18–19 (21 percent) and those aged 25–29 (29 percent).

For more visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf.

February 18, 2009 by NCHS

cholesterol, chronic disease, circumcision, Deaths, Drug use (illegal), emergency department, emergency room, Health, Health Characteristics, health insurance, hospitalization, race/ethnicity, sexual behavior, single mothers, uninsured, United States(HUS)

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Page last reviewed: February 18, 2009

Page last updated: February 18, 2009

Content source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics