The Nation's Health

How fit are Americans? In its first report on the state of the nation's wellbeing, federal officials last week offered an answer. Titled Health, United States, 1975, a three-volume, 600-page study by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare indicated that the physical condition of Americans had improved significantly in the past generation, but that excessive use of alcohol and tobacco as well as improper diet and lack of exercise are still major causes of disease.

Requested by Congress as a guide for policymakers, the wide-ranging study included these highlights:

> Infant mortality, often regarded as a key indicator of a nation's wellbeing, declined from 29.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1950 to an estimated 16.5 deaths in 1974. Despite that improvement, the U.S. still ranks only 15th in infant survival.

> Life expectancy is now 76.7 years for white women and 68.9 years for white men, up 2.1 years and 1.2 years respectively in the past decade. But non-whites continue to lag, with a life span of about 71.3 years for women and 62.9 years for men.

> The U.S.'s elderly population has risen sharply. Between 1940 and 1970, the number of people over 65 more than doubled to 20.2 million. As a consequence, the incidence of chronic arthritis, diabetes and other diseases linked with aging has also gone up.

> In the past six years the number of deaths from heart disease in the 55-to-64-year age bracket declined 15%. But the group experienced a 4% rise in cancer deaths. In addition, there has been an increase in respiratory diseases, kidney and liver ailments and, particularly among the young, venereal disease.

Commented Dr. Theodore Cooper, HEW's assistant secretary for Health, whose staff prepared the report: "The data suggest that much improvement in health status could come from individual action." In other words, Americans still have not learned the most obvious lesson, that they can become healthier without their doctors' help simply by cutting down on drinking and smoking, exercising more and eating better.

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