The best way to chart the course of future chronic illnesses and to plan preventive interventions is to monitor behavior trends in the areas of greatest health risk (Morabia, 1996). About a third of preventable deaths in this country are due to smoking, and factors associated with diet, exercise, and obesity. The charts linked to this page show that North Carolina boomers have a lot of room for improvement in these behaviors if they are to reach their retirement ages in optimum condition.

Although North Carolina boomers are smoking at higher rates than those in the rest of the country, they are smoking less than their parents did at their age. (The smoking rate is lower for older adults because many smokers in that age group have already died, increasing the proportion who have never smoked.) Even though youger boomers have higher rates of smoking in their thirties than older boomer did at that age, they also have a larger number of never smokers. This may lead to a reduced number of smokers among younger boomers as they reach the ages at which quitting is more likely.

The future of boomers in the area of obesity and exercise is more bleak. About a third of NC boomers suffer a level of obesity that poses a threat to their long-term health. (This is about the same rate seen among all US adults as a group.) Further, nearly 40 percent of all boomers do not do any physical activity. About 10.4 percent exercise regularly and intensively. Unlike smoking, this trend is getting worse over time, with younger boomers more likely to be overweight and less likely to exercise than the older boomers when they were the same age.