One in four Americans report being disabled, equivalent to 70 million people

More than one in four American adults report having some type of disability, the highest figure since tracking began nearly a decade ago.

That number reached 71 million in 2022, or 28.7% of the population, according to CDC data, which asked about cognitive, visual and mobility disabilities.

That figure is up from 61 million, or 24.6% of adults, in 2016, the first year the CDC began collecting demographic data.

There are several reasons for this increase, including an aging population and the rise in chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and obesity.

And now the CDC has suggested it could also be linked to long Covid, which was included in the survey for the first time.

The CDC tracks types of disabilities including hearing, vision, cognition, mobility, self-care and independent living.

In its data collection, the study looked at whether people had various hearing and visual disabilities, whether they could move around and perform tasks on their own, whether they had difficulty concentrating, and more.

The CDC reports were provided voluntarily by members of the public, meaning the agency could not confirm the medical accuracy of the reports.

According to data collected in 2022, the most recent year available, 7% of Americans reported having suffered from long Covid, or about 18 million adults.

Long Covid is characterized by a long list of persistent symptoms after a Covid infection, including breathing problems, chronic fatigue, brain fog and headaches.

Research into long Covid is ongoing, although there is some skepticism about whether it is a distinct disease or simply a constellation of background symptoms.

According to CDC data, Arkansas had the highest number of residents with disabilities, with 38% of people reporting some form of disability.

It is followed by West Virginia, with 37 percent, and Louisiana and Mississippi, with 36 percent.

Washington DC and Hawaii have the lowest disability rates, with 21 and 22 percent of people reporting a disability, respectively. New Jersey follows at 23 percent and Illinois at 24 percent.

A previous CDC report indicated that the highest disability rates are in rural counties, where about a third of residents have a disability.

Disability rates are higher in states with more rural and remote areas than in urban states, which may be due to limited access to care, including preventive care, occupational hazards in sectors such as mining and agriculture, and the fact that rural areas tend to have an overall older population.

The latest figures were determined based on entries from the 2022 Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which allows respondents to self-report up to six functional types of disability.

For the first time in its report, the CDC included a question about symptoms related to long Covid that were disabling people, but stopped short of calling long Covid a disability in itself.

“It collected data on experiences with long COVID, defined as symptoms lasting three months or more that the person did not have before COVID, to help us better understand the relationship between disabilities and long COVID.”

The report does not, however, explicitly state that the disabilities reported in the BRFSS were directly related to long Covid, but the data helps to better understand the relationships between disabilities and long Covid.

Specifically, participants were classified as having one of six types of disability if they answered “yes” to questions about being deaf or blind even when wearing glasses, having difficulty concentrating or making decisions, having difficulty walking or climbing stairs, being unable to bathe or dress independently, or having difficulty running errands alone.

Symptoms of long-term Covid were more common among people with disabilities than those without – around 11% and 7% respectively.

The agency said: “CDC continues to collaborate with clinicians, public health partners, and other federal agencies to better understand the impacts of Long COVID more broadly and, given the data, to better identify and support the needs of people with disabilities.”

Older people reported the highest rate of disability compared to other age groups, at 44% of those over 65.

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And when looking at disability status by race/ethnicity, the groups with the highest prevalence, both about 39 percent, identified as American Indian or Alaska Native and Other/Multiracial.

The CDC previously said that among working-age adults with a single disability, the most common type was mobility disability (34%), followed by hearing (24%) and cognitive disability (about 23%).

The CDC said: “These findings underscore the fact that people with disabilities are an important part of every community and population. Many of us know or are someone with a disability, and disability inclusion benefits everyone.”

“It is important to remember that disability is not a health problem; it is part of how people experience life, such as hearing, seeing, moving, processing information and taking care of themselves.”