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. 2014 Dec;26(8):1261-79.
doi: 10.1177/0898264314534892.

Racial disparities in disability among older adults: finding from the exploring health disparities in integrated communities study

Roland J Thorpe Jr  1 , Rachael McCleary  2 , Jenny R Smolen  2 , Keith E Whitfield  3 , Eleanor M Simonsick  4 , Thomas LaVeist  2
Affiliations

Racial disparities in disability among older adults: finding from the exploring health disparities in integrated communities study

Roland J Thorpe Jr et al. J Aging Health. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Persistent and consistently observed racial disparities in physical functioning likely stem from racial differences in social resources and environmental conditions.

Method: We examined the association between race and reported difficulty performing instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in 347 African American (45.5%) and Whites aged 50 or above in the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities-Southwest Baltimore, Maryland Study (EHDIC-SWB).

Results: Contrary to previous studies, African Americans had lower rates of disability (women: 25.6% vs. 44.6%, p = .006; men: 15.7% vs. 32.9%; p = .017) than Whites. After adjusting for sociodemographics, health behaviors, and comorbidities, African American women (odds ratio [OR] = 0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.14, 0.70]) and African American men (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = [0.13, 0.90]) retained their functional advantage compared with White women and men, respectively.

Conclusion: These findings within an integrated, low-income urban sample support efforts to ameliorate health disparities by focusing on the social context in which people live.

Keywords: African Americans; EHDIC; disability; older adults; racial disparities.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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