title: Racial differences in mortality in older adults: factors beyond socioeconomic status.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the simultaneous effect of socioeconomic status (SES), psychosocial, and health-related factors on race differences in mortality in older adults.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the association between race and mortality and the role of SES, health insurance, psychosocial factors, behavioral factors, and health-related factors in explaining these differences.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data consisted of 2,938 adults participating in the Health, Aging and Body Composition study. Mortality was assessed over 8 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SES differences accounted for 60% of the racial differences in all-cause mortality; behavioral factors and self-rated health further reduced the disparity. The racial differences in coronary heart disease mortality were completely explained by SES. Health insurance and behavioral factors accounted for some, but not all, of the race differences in cancer mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Race-related risk factors for mortality may differ by the underlying cause of mortality.
authors.affiliation: Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Department of Health Policy and Management, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, USA. rthorpe@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: Roland J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Thorpe
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koster
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bosma
authors.forename: Tamara B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Eleanor M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Simonsick
authors.forename: Jacques Th M
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: van Eijk
authors.forename: Gertrudis I J M
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Kempen
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satterfield
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kritchevsky
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008019:Life Style; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality / Q000208:ethnology*; D011584:Psychology; D012923:Social Class; D044465:White People