Black-white differences in health-related quality of life among older adults.
Very little information exists on racial differences in quality of life among older adults. In this paper, we examine black-white differences in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and identify factors that may account for these differences. The participants were 5,986 community-dwelling persons age 65+ (62% black at baseline) from the Chicago Health and Aging Project. Poor HRQOL was defined as having 14 or more self-reported physically or mentally unhealthy days over the past 30 days. A higher proportion of blacks (11.0%) than whites (9.7%) reported poor HRQOL. After adjusting for age and sex, blacks had increased odds of reporting poor HRQOL compared with whites (odds ratio [OR] = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.50-1.98). The black-white differences in HRQOL tended to increase with age (p < 0.05) and were greater among females (p < 0.05). Lifetime socioeconomic status, summary measures of medical conditions, and cognitive function accounted for most of the black-white difference (OR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.89-1.27). Our results suggest that racial differences in HRQOL are associated with the combined effects of social disadvantage, poor physical health, and lower cognitive function.
Skarupski
Kimberly A
KA
Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, Rush University Medical Center, 1645 W. Jackson, Suite 675, Chicago, IL 60612-3227, USA. Kimberly_Skarupski@rush.edu
de Leon
Carlos F Mendes
CF
Bienias
Julia L
JL
Scherr
Paul A
PA
Zack
Matthew M
MM
Moriarty
David G
DG
Evans
Denis A
DA
D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*