Health Outcomes for Older Hispanics With HIV in New York City Using the Oaxaca Decomposition Approach

Although HIV and aging are two well-established medical and economic domains, their intersection represents an emerging area of study. Older adults with HIV, who sill comprise 50% of the US HIV-infected population by 2015, are disadvantaged as evidenced by disproportionately poorer health outcomes. The Oaxaca Decomposition Approach (ODA) was used to analyze data from the Research on Older Adults with HIV (ROAH) Study of 1,000 older adults with HIV in New York City (NYC). This paper establishes the sources of health disparities for Hispanics with HIV compared to a match group of Non-Hispanics with HIV. The ODA analyses shows that Hispanics on average have higher levels of declining health and increased depression attributable to the discrimination factor.