How Age Influences the Demand for Health Care in Latin America
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of diabetes are type 1 (failure to produce insulin) and type 2 (insulin resistance). The latter is commonly associated with aging. The SABE survey estimates that 16 percent of the aging LAC population has diabetes. Higher scores were found in Bridgetown (22 percent) and lower scores were found in Buenos Aires (12 percent). Consistent with other studies, older adults with less than three years of education were twice as likely to report having diabetes as other older adults, showing a strong correlation between diabetes and poverty among older people. The study also reveals that in the group aged 60–74, among those reporting diabetes, at least 60 percent also reported problems seeing well with or without eyeglasses, and 20 percent had difficulty with at least one activity of daily living (ADL). In the nondiabetic group of the same age group, only 13 percent reported difficulties with ADLs. Chronic lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD) is a group of progressive respiratory disorders with diffuse abnormalities of gas transport and exchange. The aging are subject to COPD due not only to the biological process of aging, which includes decreased pulmonary tissue elasticity, but to prolonged exposure to pollutants or occupational environment. Cigarette smoking is a major factor in the development of COPD. Environmental exposure to sulfur dioxide, asbestos, and cotton dust are causative factors that predispose the respiratory tract to chronic infection. Repeated pulmonary infections can result in the alteration of lung structure and the destruction of pulmonary tissue. The disease is more prevalent in men than in women. According to the SABE survey, 10 percent of the population aged 60 and older reported it had COPD, varying from 13 percent (Havana) to 4 percent (Bridgetown) in the seven cities surveyed. The Latin American Project for the Investigation of Obstructive Lung Disease examined the prevalence of post-bronchodilator airflow limitation (Stage I: Mild COPD and higher) among people over age 40 in five major Latin American cities, each in a different country—Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, and República Bolivariana de Venezuela. In each country, the prevalence of Stage I:Mild COPD and higher increased steeply with age, with the highest prevalence among those over age 60, ranging from a low of 18.4 percent in Mexico City, Mexico, to a high of 32.1 percent in Montevideo, Uruguay. In all cities/countries the prevalence was appreciably higher in men than in women. Stroke (cerebrovascular disease) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is interrupted or severely reduced, depriving brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients. Within a few minutes, brain cells begin