More than 70 million adults reported having a disability in 2022

Key takeaways:

• The most reported disability was cognitive disability.
• Long COVID symptoms occurred more frequently among those with disabilities.

More than 70 million adults — or one in four — in the United States reported having a disability in 2022, according to a press release from the CDC.

The CDC released its annual update to the Disability and Health Data System, or DHDS, which includes new data taken from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

According to the agency, the DHDS reports state-level information on the following six disability types: cognitive, mobility, hearing, vision, self-care and independent living.

The highest prevalence of any reported disability in 2022 was cognitive disability (13.9%), and women had a higher prevalence of any disability compared with men (30.6% vs. 26.7%).

Data also showed that adults aged 65 years and older reported a higher prevalence of disability (43.9%) vs. other age groups.

When researchers assessed disability status by race and ethnicity, they found people identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native and as other or multiracial (both 38.7%) reported the highest prevalence of disability.

The state with the highest prevalence of reported disability was Arkansas (38.1%), followed by Oklahoma (37.8%), Louisiana (36%) and Mississippi (35.8%).

The CDC added that for the first time, 2022 BRFSS collected data on experiences with long COVID “to help us better understand the relationship between disabilities and long COVID.”

Notably, individuals with disabilities more often reported long COVID symptoms compared with without disabilities (10.8% vs. 6.6%).

The CDC noted that although long COVID can occur in anyone infected with SARS-2-CoV, some people may be more at risk than others “because of underlying medical conditions, congregate living settings, or systemic health and social inequities.”

The agency also underlined its continued recommendation that vaccines are the best protection against adverse outcomes from COVID-19.

The findings ultimately show that people with disabilities “are a large part of every community and population,” according to the CDC.

“[I]t’s important to remember disability is not a health outcome; it is part of the way people experience life, such as hearing, seeing, moving, processing information, and caring for oneself,” CDC said in the release..

References:

• CDC data shows over 70 million U.S. adults reported having a disability. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s0716-Adult-disability.html. Published July 16, 2024. Accessed July 18, 2024.
• Disability and Health Data System (DHDS) Overview. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/dhds/overview.html. Accessed July 18, 2024.