Variation in the associations of education, occupation, income, and assets with functional limitations in older Mexican Americans.
OBJECTIVE
The primary aim was to examine the particular components of socioeconomic status that may be associated with functional limitation among older Mexican American men and women.


METHODS
Using baseline data from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, the education, past occupation, household income, and assets of those with and without limitations in activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and those scoring 9 versus < 9 on the performance oriented mobility assessment (POMA) were compared.


RESULTS
Not completing at least 12 years of education was associated with a two-fold higher likelihood of having an IADL limitation, but not significantly associated with other indicators of functional limitation. Men who had been skilled manual, farm workers, or laborers were 1.82 to 2.59 times as likely as those who had been white-collar workers to have a POMA score below 9. Homemakers had significantly higher odds of all three measures of functional/mobility impairment than women white-collar workers.


CONCLUSIONS
Different dimensions of socioeconomic status may be associated with separate aspects of functional limitation in distinct ways, which vary by sex.
Keddie
Arlene M
AM
Sealy Center on Aging and Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77555-0460, USA. arkeddie@UTMB.edu
Peek
M Kristen
MK
Markides
Kyriakos S
KS
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D009790:Occupations; D012923:Social Class; D015206:Southwestern United States