Think only the young and the reckless and the old and the infirm end up in health clinics?
Think again.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data Tuesday that reveals the age of Americans who visit health care centers the most — and the results are surprising.
According to the report, in 2022, American adults will have visited health care centers about 89.5 million times, or 349.4 visits per 1,000 adults. This represents a huge increase in treatment trends, as 82.3 million visits were reported last year.
A surprising two-thirds of health care visits were related to illnesses, including digestive conditions and diabetes.
In terms of age, the highest rate of visits was found in those aged 55 to 64. These middle-aged people visited clinics at a rate of 418 per 1,000 people, compared with 325 in adults 18 to 44 and 315 in those over 65.
According to the CDC, the former demographic may have higher visits than others because most new diabetes diagnoses are in people ages 45 to 64, and the highest rate of reason for the visit, as noted above first, it was for diseases including diabetes.
CDC compiled data from clinics and health centers that provide primary care, including prenatal appointments, immunizations, and medical, vision, dental, and cancer screenings.
About 38.4 million Americans have diabetes, and a recent report warned that the rate of diabetes is expected to rise from 16.3% to 26.8% of the population by 2050 because people don’t exercise enough or eat healthy.
After illnesses, the second biggest reason for health care visits was “factors affecting health status and contact with health services”, at 42%. This category included screening, blood work, reproductive services, exams, and follow-up appointments.
Mental, behavioral, and neurodevelopmental disorders accounted for 22% of all health care visits, the fourth largest cause. Interestingly, the proportion of visits involving a mental disorder decreased with age, from 24.5% of visits by adults aged 18 to 44 to 15.3% by adults aged 65 and over.
Conversely, circulatory diseases, including high blood pressure, increased significantly with age—from 6.5% of all visits by adults ages 18 to 44 to 32.7% of visits by adults age 65 and older. up.
In terms of gender, the visit rate for women was almost twice as high as for men, 444.9 visits per 1,000 women versus 248.8 visits per 1,000 men.
Singles were more likely to seek medical treatment than their married counterparts; 48% of visits were from unmarried individuals compared to 38% for married individuals.
This discrepancy is reflected in a 2019 study that suggests married people have better health because of higher levels of income, private health insurance and a stronger support system.
The CDC notes that the new analysis did not use important variables such as race and ethnicity, type of primary care provider, and insurance status.
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