title: Socioeconomic stratification and multidimensional health trajectories: evidence of convergence in later old age.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This research sought to examine socioeconomic stratification in the joint trajectories of physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning among older Americans and how it differs by age groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from a nationally representative sample of 9,237 Americans age 65 or older from the Health and Retirement Study, who were observed biennially from 1998 to 2010. Joint trajectories of physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning were characterized using a group-based mixture model. We then applied multinomial logistic regression analysis to evaluate their linkages with socioeconomic status and how the linkages differ by age groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified four distinct patterns of joint changes in physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning over time. Accounting for 29.3%, 23.5%, 24.5%, and 22.6% of the older Americans, respectively, these trajectory patterns characterized groups of individuals experiencing minimal to severe levels of impairment and deterioration. Lower education, income, and net worth were associated with trajectories featuring greater impairment or more rapid deterioration in these functional dimensions. Disparities based on education, however, attenuated in later old age, whereas health benefits associated with higher income and higher net worth persisted into advanced age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Distinct patterns of joint trajectories of physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning exist in old age. There were significant socioeconomic differences in the joint trajectories, with education-based inequality in health converging in later old age. Further research identifying strategies to alleviate the disproportionate burden of poor multidimensional health trajectories in lower socioeconomic groups is important.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. xiao.xu@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
authors.forename: Jersey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
authors.forename: Joan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Anda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Botoseneanu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Heather G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Allore
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Cognition.; Depression; Disability; Elderly; Joint trajectories; Socioeconomic status