Summary
This policy brief examines a range of health issues and trends among California's approximately three million women ages 50-64, an age group that often faces new and accelerated chronic health conditions. The authors found that women ages 50-64 are more prone than younger women to a wide range of health conditions, including asthma, diabetes and heart disease. Nearly four in ten women in this age group will be diagnosed with high blood pressure in their lifetime while nearly six in ten are either obese or overweight — in both cases a proportion higher than for younger women. Using data from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey, the authors also found that one-quarter of women who had never married and 21 percent of divorced, separated, or widowed women were uninsured — percentages that are more than twice the rates of married women.