title: Identifying adults aging with disability using existing data: The case of the Health and Retirement Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The population of persons aging with disabilities is growing. Being able to segment aging with disability sub-populations within national data sets is becoming increasingly important in order to understand the relationship of aging with disability to a range of outcomes in later life including health and wellness, economic security, and health and long-term service and support need and use.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to identify viable sub-samples of adults aging with disabilities within the Health and Retirement Study, one of the most used secondary data sets to study aging and older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Samples used in this research are drawn from wave 11 (2012) of the HRS. Five operationalizations of disability were used: childhood disability (n = 719), childhood chronic condition (n = 3070), adult chronic condition (n = 13,723), functional limitation in adulthood (n = 4448) and work disability (n = 5632).
  
  
  RESULTS
  These subsamples are not mutually exclusive. Among respondents that reported having a childhood disability, 87% also report having at least one chronic disease in adulthood, 50% report having functional limitations in adulthood and 38% report interruption in their ability to work due to a disability. Compared to the childhood disability samples, rates of reporting fair/poor health are nearly double among adults with functional limitations or those with work disruptions because of disability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Work disability and functional limitation appeared to be the most viable sub-sample options to consider when using the HRS to study experiences of adults aging with disability. Overall, age at onset is unclear.
authors.affiliation: Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging, Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA. Electronic address: caitlin.coyle@umb.edu.
authors.forename: Caitlin E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Coyle
authors.affiliation: Simmons College, School of Social Work, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Putnam
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000145:classification; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012179:Retirement; D057566:Self Report; D014937:Work
keywords: Aging; Disability; Secondary data