In this paper we examine disparities in the ability to function among older Americans. We place special emphasis on two goals: (1) understanding the quantitatively large socioeconomic status-health gradient, and (2) the persistence in health outcomes over long periods. We find that there exist...

This paper has two interrelated goals. First, it examines racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes among older Americans using two important new data sets: the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) and the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldes Old (AHEAD). Second, our research attempts...

PURPOSE: To describe the relationship between self-reported visual and hearing impairment and an index of global functional status among seniors age 70 years or older. METHODS: A total of 7,320 United States community-dwelling persons aged 70 years or older participating in the 1993 Assets and...

This study describes patterns of functional status among older blacks and whites by their history of birth in and migration out of the South. We used multivariate regression to analyze data on functional status of US-born non-Hispanic blacks (N=1868) and whites (N=13[punctuation space]469) age...