The general picture is that older people of today are healthier than older people of two decades ago. There have been improvements in most dimensions of health. People live longer and have fewer disabilities, have less functioning loss, and report themselves to be in better health. Over time there has been some reduction in risk from smoking and a lowering of cholesterol and average triglyceride levels. However, weight increase has been notable during this period. Because people live longer, a greater percentage of people have some specific common diseases, and, on average, older people live with more diseases. The decade of the 1990s was not one of improvement.
