title: Socioeconomic disparities in health among older adults and the implications for the retirement age debate: a brief report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Policy debates about raising the full retirement age often neglect socioeconomic health disparities among U.S. workers. In response to this gap, we analyzed educational differentials in health among middle-age and older adults and translated the findings into age equivalents.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the nationally representative 1997-2010 National Health Interview Surveys data on white and black adults aged 40-74 (N = 341,060). Using nonparametric regression (locally weighted scatterplot smoother) stratified by sex, race, and three educational levels, we determined age-specific prevalence of fair or poor self-rated health and any activity limitation, and compared the ages at which different demographic groups experienced a specific level of these two outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results varied slightly across health outcomes and demographic groups but generally showed that college-educated white men reported a level of limitations at age 70 that is equivalent to the levels reported by high school graduates at age 40-55. High school dropouts reported worse health at age 40 than the college educated at age 70, a gap of more than 30 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings revealed enormous health inequalities in self-reported health, using a powerful and intuitive age-equivalence formulation. They highlighted the importance of considering health disparities in discussions about raising the retirement age, both in terms of fairness and feasibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Wyoming, Laramie. zajacova@uwyo.edu.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zajacova
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: Jennifer Karas
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Montez
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Herd
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012179:Retirement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American
keywords: Health disparities; Older adults; Retirement policy.; U.S. workers