Cargando…

Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults

Numerous studies have examined racial/ethnic- or gender-based disparities in health. However, few examined health outcomes based on a combination of individuals’ race, ethnicity, and gender. Guided by an intersectionality framework, this study explores racial/ethnic/gender-based differences in older...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kong, Dexia, Lu, Peiyi, Davitt, Joan, Shelley, Mack
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7742597/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.3295
_version_ 1783624025302368256
author Kong, Dexia
Lu, Peiyi
Davitt, Joan
Shelley, Mack
author_facet Kong, Dexia
Lu, Peiyi
Davitt, Joan
Shelley, Mack
author_sort Kong, Dexia
collection PubMed
description Numerous studies have examined racial/ethnic- or gender-based disparities in health. However, few examined health outcomes based on a combination of individuals’ race, ethnicity, and gender. Guided by an intersectionality framework, this study explores racial/ethnic/gender-based differences in older adults’ health trajectories over a ten-year period. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (2004-2014) were used (n=16,654). Older adults (65+) were stratified into six groups based on their race, ethnicity, and gender, including (1) Non-Hispanic (NH) White Men; (2) NH White Women; (3) NH Black Men; (4) NH Black Women; (5) Hispanic Men; and (6) Hispanic Women. Growth curve models were used to examine the trajectories of three health indicators over time, including cognitive function, physical function (i.e. the sum of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living), and depressive symptoms. The results indicated that NH White men and women outperformed racial/ethnic minority groups in cognition and physical function trajectories. Females in all racial/ethnic groups had more depressive symptoms but better cognition than their male counterparts. Hispanic women reported the most depressive symptoms. Hispanic women and NH Black women had the poorest physical function. NH Black men/women had the lowest cognition. Study findings highlighted the utility of an intersectionality framework in understanding health disparities in later life. Multiple social identities intersect with each other and generate protective and/or risk effects on cognitive, mental, and physical health status. Multilevel intervention strategies are warranted to close the health equity gap among various marginalized population groups.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7742597
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Oxford University Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77425972020-12-21 Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults Kong, Dexia Lu, Peiyi Davitt, Joan Shelley, Mack Innov Aging Abstracts Numerous studies have examined racial/ethnic- or gender-based disparities in health. However, few examined health outcomes based on a combination of individuals’ race, ethnicity, and gender. Guided by an intersectionality framework, this study explores racial/ethnic/gender-based differences in older adults’ health trajectories over a ten-year period. Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (2004-2014) were used (n=16,654). Older adults (65+) were stratified into six groups based on their race, ethnicity, and gender, including (1) Non-Hispanic (NH) White Men; (2) NH White Women; (3) NH Black Men; (4) NH Black Women; (5) Hispanic Men; and (6) Hispanic Women. Growth curve models were used to examine the trajectories of three health indicators over time, including cognitive function, physical function (i.e. the sum of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living), and depressive symptoms. The results indicated that NH White men and women outperformed racial/ethnic minority groups in cognition and physical function trajectories. Females in all racial/ethnic groups had more depressive symptoms but better cognition than their male counterparts. Hispanic women reported the most depressive symptoms. Hispanic women and NH Black women had the poorest physical function. NH Black men/women had the lowest cognition. Study findings highlighted the utility of an intersectionality framework in understanding health disparities in later life. Multiple social identities intersect with each other and generate protective and/or risk effects on cognitive, mental, and physical health status. Multilevel intervention strategies are warranted to close the health equity gap among various marginalized population groups. Oxford University Press 2020-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7742597/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.3295 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Abstracts
Kong, Dexia
Lu, Peiyi
Davitt, Joan
Shelley, Mack
Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults
title Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults
title_full Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults
title_fullStr Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults
title_full_unstemmed Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults
title_short Racial/ethnic/gender-based Disparities in Health Trajectories among American Older Adults
title_sort racial/ethnic/gender-based disparities in health trajectories among american older adults
topic Abstracts
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7742597/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.3295
work_keys_str_mv AT kongdexia racialethnicgenderbaseddisparitiesinhealthtrajectoriesamongamericanolderadults
AT lupeiyi racialethnicgenderbaseddisparitiesinhealthtrajectoriesamongamericanolderadults
AT davittjoan racialethnicgenderbaseddisparitiesinhealthtrajectoriesamongamericanolderadults
AT shelleymack racialethnicgenderbaseddisparitiesinhealthtrajectoriesamongamericanolderadults