Almost eight in 10 Irish people who are over the age of 50 are overweight or obese, according to a new report.

This is the second major report by the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) - a national study of more than 8,000 people aged 50 and older in Ireland. The findings are based on data collected between April 2012 and January 2013 and show how people's lives have changed since the first report, which looked at 2009 and 2010.

According to the findings, 35% of people over the age of 50 are obese and a further 44% are overweight. Furthermore, at least half of these people are at risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease as a result of their high waist circumference.

The report noted that obesity in 2009/2010 is strongly linked with cardiovascular disease in 2012/2013. In other words, those who were obese three years previously were much more likely to have gone on to develop cardiovascular disease.

Those who were obese in 2009/2010 were also much more likely to have gone on to develop diabetes by 2012/2013. Obese men were also more likely to have had a heart attack during this time, while obese women were more likely to have developed angina.

Commenting on these findings, TILDA principal investigator, Prof Rose Anne Kenny, said that the high prevalence of obesity and associated chronic disease is ‘a cause for concern'.

"Given current and future dramatic changes in the Irish population, with one fifth of people aged over 65 by 2060, TILDA will greatly assist new policy initiatives to address health behaviours and disease prevention so that our later life years can be healthy and independent," she explained.

Meanwhile, the report also found that arthritis now affects just over half of people aged 75 and older, while almost one in three over-75s have had a fall in the last year. Almost one in 10 people aged 50 and older have had a fall that required medical treatment in the last year.

The researchers noted that smoking rates after the age of 65 declined, with 16% of smokers in 2009/2010 having quit the habit by 2012/2013. However, problematic alcohol use rose during this period and is ‘significantly higher' in men (21%) compared to women (11%), although there is a fall in problematic alcohol use after the age of 65.

Perhaps not surprisingly, levels of physical activity appear to decline as people get older. At least half of people over the age of 75 reported low levels of activity.

The report also found that married people had a higher quality of life than those who never married, separated/divorced or were widowed. Furthermore those with strong social networks, including those who volunteer regularly, were found to have a higher quality of life than the less socially active.

One in three over 50s said they looked after their grandchildren for at least one hour per week and those who cared for their grandchildren had a higher quality of life than those who did not.

The report also found that:
-There has been a fall in the number of people under the age of 65 with private health insurance, but an increase in those over the age of 65
-The percentage of over 50s with a full medical card or GP visit card has risen, but the figure has declined among those over the age of 70
-Uptake of the flu vaccine is low among those aged 50 and older, however uptake of breast and prostate cancer screening is high
-The income of the over-50s has remained stable since 2009/2010, however overall wealth has fallen, largely as a result of a fall in the value of property assets
-Some 5% of the adult children of TILDA participants emigrated between 2009/2010 and 2012/2013.

TILDA is being carried out by researchers at Trinity College Dublin in collaboration with researchers from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), University College Cork (UCC) and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT).

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