TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring social determinants of healthcare and cognition levels among diverse older adults
AU - Rahemi, Zahra
AU - Bacsu, Juanita Dawne R.
AU - Shalhout, Sophia Z.
AU - Sadafipoor, Maryam S.
AU - Smith, Matthew Lee
AU - Adams, Swann Arp
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2025/1/1
Y1 - 2025/1/1
N2 - Background: The purpose was to investigate the impact of social determinants of health on healthcare utilization among older adults in two cognition groups: normal and dementia/impaired cognition. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 16,339) to assess healthcare utilization: hospital stay, nursing home stay, hospice care, and doctor visits. The respondents were classified into two cognition groups using the Langa-Weir approach. Results: A cohort comparison between normal (mean age = 66.1) and dementia/impaired cognition (mean age = 71.9) groups revealed dementia/impaired group included more individuals from racial and ethnic minorities (42.7 % Black/Other, 20.8 % Hispanic) compared to the normal cognition (24.7 % Black/Other, 12.1 % Hispanic). They experienced longer hospital, nursing home, and hospice stays and varied doctor visit frequencies. These differences were influenced by race, age, marital status, education, and rurality. Conclusion: Social determinants of health play an important role in predicting disparities in healthcare utilization among older adults across cognition levels.
AB - Background: The purpose was to investigate the impact of social determinants of health on healthcare utilization among older adults in two cognition groups: normal and dementia/impaired cognition. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 16,339) to assess healthcare utilization: hospital stay, nursing home stay, hospice care, and doctor visits. The respondents were classified into two cognition groups using the Langa-Weir approach. Results: A cohort comparison between normal (mean age = 66.1) and dementia/impaired cognition (mean age = 71.9) groups revealed dementia/impaired group included more individuals from racial and ethnic minorities (42.7 % Black/Other, 20.8 % Hispanic) compared to the normal cognition (24.7 % Black/Other, 12.1 % Hispanic). They experienced longer hospital, nursing home, and hospice stays and varied doctor visit frequencies. These differences were influenced by race, age, marital status, education, and rurality. Conclusion: Social determinants of health play an important role in predicting disparities in healthcare utilization among older adults across cognition levels.
KW - Cognition
KW - Doctor visits
KW - Health and retirement study
KW - Hospice
KW - Hospital
KW - Nursing home
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U2 - 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.12.037
DO - 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.12.037
M3 - Article
C2 - 39778423
AN - SCOPUS:85214091007
SN - 0197-4572
VL - 61
SP - 614
EP - 621
JO - Geriatric Nursing
JF - Geriatric Nursing
ER -