title: Racial disparities in disability among older adults: finding from the exploring health disparities in integrated communities study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Persistent and consistently observed racial disparities in physical functioning likely stem from racial differences in social resources and environmental conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the association between race and reported difficulty performing instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in 347 African American (45.5%) and Whites aged 50 or above in the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities-Southwest Baltimore, Maryland Study (EHDIC-SWB).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Contrary to previous studies, African Americans had lower rates of disability (women: 25.6% vs. 44.6%, p = .006; men: 15.7% vs. 32.9%; p = .017) than Whites. After adjusting for sociodemographics, health behaviors, and comorbidities, African American women (odds ratio [OR] = 0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.14, 0.70]) and African American men (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = [0.13, 0.90]) retained their functional advantage compared with White women and men, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings within an integrated, low-income urban sample support efforts to ameliorate health disparities by focusing on the social context in which people live.
authors.affiliation: Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA Center on Biobehavorial Health Disparities Research, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA rthorpe@jhu.edu.
authors.forename: Roland J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Thorpe
authors.affiliation: Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Rachael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McCleary
authors.affiliation: Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Jenny R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Smolen
authors.affiliation: Center on Biobehavorial Health Disparities Research, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Keith E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Whitfield
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Eleanor M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Simonsick
authors.affiliation: Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: LaVeist
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D015142:Baltimore; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: African Americans; EHDIC; disability; older adults; racial disparities