Healthy Aging Introduction
Colorado’s older adults do relatively well according to the measures used in this Report Card and compared to their peers in other states. Colorado scores in the top 10 on three of the seven Healthy Aging indicators. Following national trends, Colorado’s older adults are living longer and healthier lives. They are more likely to engage in physical activity and have higher rates of flu and pneumonia vaccinations compared to older adults in other states.
Based on this fairly good performance, Colorado gets an B+ for Healthy Aging, leaving room for improvement. While Colorado ranks sixth in the proportion of older adults who get pneumonia and flu vaccinations, only 61 percent have actually protected themselves against these diseases. Additionally, more than one in five older adults report that poor physical or mental health kept them from doing their usual activities on eight or more days in the last month.
While nearly 95 percent of Colorado's older adults have one or more persons they think of as their personal doctor, more than half of the other states do better.
| Healthy Aging: Health Indicators and Rank Among States |
Health Indicator |
Rank
among states |
| 94.5 percent of older adults have one (or more) person(s) they think of as their personal doctor or health care provider |
28
|
| 61.0 percent of older adults have had a flu shot during the past 12 months and have had a pneumonia vaccination |
|
| 74.6 percent of older adults participated in any physical activity in the past 30 days |
|
| 18.9 percent of older adults report that their physical health was not good eight or more days in the past month |
|
| 7.3 percent of older adults report that their mental health was not good eight or more days in the past month |
|
| 21.9 percent of older adults reported eight or more days of limited activity in the past month due to poor physical or mental health |
|
Average Rank |
|
Average Grade |
B+ |