Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108CH APTER 1 23 stabilize at the oldest ages; the distribution of chronic problems among people 85 and older is very similar to that of those 75 to 84, at least in the community-dwelling population. Health Behaviors and Outcomes With recent and projected increases in national health care expenditures, public attention has focused on preventing unhealthful behaviors and controlling behavioral and lifestyle factors that contribute to disease, disability, and death. The HRS examines several of these health behav- iors and risk factors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity, and helps frame questions designed to inform public health policy in these areas. One book, based on the first four waves of HRS data, is devoted to exploring risk perceptions and choices made by smokers and addressing policy questions such as the efficacy of different educational strategies, class- action suits, and regulation/prohibition (Sloan et al. 2003). Smoking Examining the relationship between health beliefs and health behavior, Schoenbaum (1997) inves- tigated whether HRS participants understand the mortality effects of smoking, i.e., do they realize that smoking can shorten one’s life? In one survey year, participants were asked how long they expected to live. For “never,” “former,” and “current” light smokers, survival expectations were quite close to actuarial predictions of life expectancy for their ages. Among current heavy smokers, however, the expectation of reaching age 75 was nearly twice that of actuarial predic- tions. In other words, heavy smokers significantly underestimated their risk of premature mortality linked with smoking. TBL. 1-1 health problems, by age: 2002 Notes: Health problems include six major categories: hypertension, diabetes, cancer, bronchitis/emphysema, heart condi- tion, and stroke. Columns may not sum to 100% due to rounding. Not married Married Percent of Respondents Number of Health Problems 55-64 65-74 75-84 85+ 0 40% 26% 18% 17% 1 35 36 34 34 2 17 24 29 29 3 6 10 16 14 4 or more 2 4 5 6 FIG. 1-3 selected health PROBLEMS, by age: 2002 (Percent ever having) 55-64 65-74 75-84 85+ Hypertension Diabetes Cancer Chronic Lung Disease Arthritis Heart Condition Psychiatric/ Emotional Problem Stroke 0% 10% 20% 30% 60% 40% 50% 70%