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. 2021 Jul 15;31(3):445-452.
doi: 10.18865/ed.31.3.445. eCollection 2021 Summer.

Associations of Health Conditions and Health-Related Determinants with Disability among New York City Adult Residents

John B Wetmore  1   2 , Claudia Chernov  2 , Sharon E Perlman  2 , Luisa N Borrell  1
Affiliations

Associations of Health Conditions and Health-Related Determinants with Disability among New York City Adult Residents

John B Wetmore et al. Ethn Dis. .

Abstract

Introduction: Population-based disability prevalence estimates are limited for New York City (NYC). We examined the association of several health and health-related measures with disability among NYC residents aged 20-64 years.

Methods: We used information from 1,314 adults who participated in the 2013-2014 NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES). We categorized survey participants as having a disability if they reported a physical, mental, and/or emotional problem preventing work or if they reported difficulty walking without special equipment because of a health problem. We used log-binomial regression to quantify the association of each exposure with disability before and after adjustment for select covariates.

Results: Overall, 12.4% of the study's NYC residents aged 20-64 years had a disability. After adjustment, disability prevalence was significantly greater among those who reported having unmet health care needs (prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.18-2.57) and those who reported fair/poor general health (PR = 2.33, 95% CI: 1.68-3.24). The probability of disability was greater among NYC residents with arthritis (PR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.85-3.98) and hypertension (PR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.04-2.11) when compared with those without these conditions. Disability was also associated with depression (PR = 2.96, 95% CI: 2.06-4.25), anxiety (PR = 2.89, 95% CI: 2.15-3.88), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PR = 2.55, 95% CI: 1.66-3.91). Disability, however, was not associated with diabetes.

Conclusion: Disability is more prevalent among those with unmet health care needs, fair/poor general health, arthritis, hypertension, depression, anxiety, and PTSD in these NYC residents, aged 20-64 years. These findings have implications for NYC's strategic planning initiatives, which can be better targeted to groups disproportionately affected by disability.

Keywords: Chronic Conditions; Community Health; Disability; Health Care Disparities; Mental Health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: None declared.

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