@article {8495, title = {Life Course Pathways to Racial Disparities in Cognitive Impairment among Older Americans.}, journal = {J Health Soc Behav}, volume = {57}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 06}, pages = {184-99}, abstract = {

Blacks are especially hard hit by cognitive impairment at older ages compared to whites. Here, we take advantage of the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2010) to assess how this racial divide in cognitive impairment is associated with the racial stratification of life course exposures and resources over a 12-year period among 8,946 non-Hispanic whites and blacks ages 65 and older in 1998. We find that blacks suffer from a higher risk of moderate/severe cognitive impairment at baseline and during the follow-up. Blacks are also more likely to report childhood adversity and to have grown up in the segregated South, and these early-life adversities put blacks at a significantly higher risk of cognitive impairment. Adulthood socioeconomic status is strongly associated with the risk of cognitive impairment, net of childhood conditions. However, racial disparities in cognitive impairment, though substantially reduced, are not eliminated when controlling for these life course factors.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Cognitive Dysfunction, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Health Status Disparities, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological tests, Risk Factors, Severity of Illness Index, United States}, issn = {2150-6000}, doi = {10.1177/0022146516645925}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27247126}, author = {Zhang, Zhenmei and Mark D Hayward and Yu, Yan-Liang} } @article {7282, title = {Life with and without heart disease among women and men over 50.}, journal = {J Women Aging}, volume = {20}, year = {2008}, month = {2008}, pages = {5-19}, publisher = {20}, abstract = {

This article uses a demographic approach and data from the Health and Retirement Survey, a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population, to investigate sex differences in the length of life lived with heart disease and after a heart attack for persons in the United States age 50 and older. On average, women live longer than men with heart disease. At age 50 women can expect to live 7.9 years and men 6.7 years with heart disease. The average woman experiences heart disease onset three years older and heart attacks 4.4 years older than men.

}, keywords = {Activities of Daily Living, Aged, Female, Health Status, Heart Diseases, Humans, Life Expectancy, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Patient Education as Topic, Prejudice, Risk Factors, United States, Women{\textquoteright}s Health, Women{\textquoteright}s Health Services}, issn = {0895-2841}, doi = {10.1300/j074v20n01_02}, author = {Eileen M. Crimmins and Mark D Hayward and Ueda, Hiroshi and Saito, Yasuhiko and Jung K Kim} } @article {7058, title = {Life course pathways to adult-onset diabetes.}, journal = {Soc Biol}, volume = {52}, year = {2005}, month = {2005 Fall-Winter}, pages = {94-111}, publisher = {52}, abstract = {

Early life conditions, such as socioeconomic status (SES) and health, have the potential to set in motion multiple and reinforcing pathways that shape both the prevalence and onset of diabetes among older adults. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2002) for persons age 51 years and older, we investigated the core mediating mechanisms linking early life conditions with diabetes prevalence in 1998 and onset over a 4-year follow-up period, focusing on adult achievement processes and obesity as key mechanisms. We found that father{\textquoteright}s education is negatively associated with diabetes prevalence for older men and women. However, no markers of early life SES are directly associated with older men{\textquoteright}s and women{\textquoteright}s onset of diabetes, and the negative effects of adult SES on diabetes onset pertain only to women. Early life health affects the onset of diabetes among women--but not the prevalence--and no evidence of this association was found for men. We found no evidence that obesity is an important mechanism connecting either early life or adult SES with diabetes development in men or women. We speculate that early life SES may accelerate the development of diabetes at younger ages, and that the pathways linking life course SES, early life health, and diabetes are partly gender-specific and biological in nature.

}, keywords = {Aged, Child, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Family Health, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Life Style, Likelihood Functions, Logistic Models, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Poverty, Risk Factors, Social Class, United States}, issn = {0037-766X}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/19485565.2005.9989104}, author = {Best, Latrica E. and Mark D Hayward and Mira M Hidajat} }