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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Racial/ethnic differences in the relationship between the use of health care services and functional disability
— the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2004) | | Author(s) | Mary Elizabeth Bowen, Hector M Gonzalez |
| Journal title | The Gerontologist, vol 48, no 5, October 2008 |
| Pages | pp 659-667 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Ethnic groups ; Physical disabilities ; Health services ; Usage [services] ; Correlation ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | The purpose of this study was to examine racial/ethnic differences in the relationship between functional disability and the use of health care services in a nationally representative sample of older adults by using the Andersen behavioural model of health services utilisation. The study used 12 years of longitudinal data from the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 1992-2004), a nationally representative sample of 8,947 community-dwelling adults older than 50 in 1992. Nonlinear multilevel models used self-reported health care service utilisation (physician visits and hospital admissions) to predict racial/ethnic differences in disability (activities of daily living or ADLs, and mobility limitations). The models also evaluated the roles of other predisposing (age and gender), health need (medical conditions and self-rated health), and enabling factors (health insurance, education, income, and wealth). Blacks and Latinos' use of physician visits and hospital admissions was associated with significantly more activity of daily living disability than Whites. Blacks' use of physician visits and hospital admissions and Latinos' hospital admissions were associated with more mobility disability than for Whites. Other predisposing, health need, and enabling factors did not account for these racial/ethnic differences. Nationally, health care use for Blacks and Latinos was associated with more disabilities than for Whites after accounting for predisposing, health need, and enabling factors. The findings suggest that improving health care quality for all Americans may supersede equal access to health care for reducing ethnic and racial disparities in functional health. (KJ). |
| Accession Number | CPA-091215204 A |
| Classmark | TK: BN: L: QLD: 49: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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