ArticlePloS one2013
Relationships of disability with age among adults aged 50 to 85: evidence from the United States, England and continental europe.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
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- Multivariate analysis of independent determinants of ADL/IADL and quality of life in the elderly.BMC geriatrics · 2022Article
- A Parsimonious Taxonomy of The Newly Retired: Spousal and Disability Combinations Shape Part or Complete Retirement.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Health and Care Dependency of Older Adults in Dresden, Germany: Results from the LAB60+ Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Functional Limitations and Access to Long-Term Services and Supports Among Sexual Minority Older Adults.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2022Article
- Nomogram for predicting the 12-year risk of ADL disability among older adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo extend existing research on the US health disadvantage relative to Europe by studying the relationships of disability with age from midlife to old age in the US and four European regions (England/Northern and Western Europe/Southern Europe/Eastern Europe) including their wealth-related differences, using a flexible statistical approach to model the age-functions.
methodsWe used data from three studies on aging, with nationally representative samples of adults aged 50 to 85 from 15 countries (N = 48225): the US-American Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Outcomes were mobility limitations and limitations in instrumental activities of daily living. We applied fractional polynomials of age to determine best fitting functional forms for age on disability in each region, while controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and important risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking, physical inactivity).
resultsFindings showed high levels of disability in the US with small age-related changes between 50 and 85. Levels of disability were generally lower in Eastern Europe, followed by England and Southern Europe and lowest in Northern and Western Europe. In these latter countries age-related increases of disability, though, were steeper than in the US, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe. For all countries and at all ages, disability levels were higher among adults with low wealth compared to those with high wealth, with largest wealth-related differences among those in early old age in the USA.
conclusionsThis paper illustrates considerable variations of disability and its relationship with age. It supports the hypothesis that less developed social policies and more pronounced socioeconomic inequalities are related to higher levels of disability and an earlier onset of disability.
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