Disability levels and correlates among older mobile home dwellers, an NHATS analysis

Abstract

Background Although remarkably understudied, manufactured or mobile homes are the housing choice for nearly 20 million Americans and little is known about the health of older persons living in mobile homes. Objective We sought to investigate disability levels and other health correlates among older adults living in mobile or manufactured homes compared to their counterparts living in other types of homes. Methods We sampled non-institutional adults aged 65 years or older (n = 7609), of whom 344 lived in mobile homes, from the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). Results Respondents living in mobile homes (average age = 75.1 years; SD = 0.5) had lower education and income and medical insurance than older adults living in other types of community residence (average age = 77.5 years; SD = 0.2). They were more likely to smoke, have lung and heart disease, and report fair or poor general health status. Mobile home dwellers reported more difficulty or inability in performing the following activities of daily living when compared to their counterparts: stooping and kneeling (64.9% vs 60.8%, p = 0.007), walking 6 blocks (46.5% vs 41.5%, p = 0.001), walking 3 blocks (37.7% vs 33.5%, p = 0.002), and climbing up to 20 stairs (39.2% vs 34.8%, p = 0.02). Among those reporting disability, mobile home dwellers had fewer bathroom safety modifications. Conclusion There is higher prevalence of chronic conditions, functional and cognitive impairment in older mobile home dwellers compared to older adults living in other types of housing.

Structural Forces: Perception and Vulnerability Factors for Tornado Sheltering within Mobile and Manufactured Housing in Alabama and Mississippi

“…Housing scholars have countered these stereotypes by recognizing that mobile and manufactured housing encompasses demographically, culturally, and geographically diverse groups of residents with wide-ranging values, concerns, and means (Beamish et al 2001;Hart et al 2002;Salamon and MacTavish 2017). Nevertheless, when compared to those living in site-built homes, MHR suffer disproportionate hardship in a number of contexts, including health and disability (Al-Rousan et al 2015), energy use and efficiency (Wilson 2012), water utility service (Pierce and Jimenez 2015), and uncertain housing and land tenure (Sullivan 2018). It is not surprising, therefore, that MH prevalence (as a percentage of occupied housing stock) is often included as an indicator in geospatial analyses of social vulnerability to disasters (Emrich and Cutter 2011;Flanagan et al 2011).…”

Mobile home residence as a risk factor for adverse events among children in a mixed rural–urban community: A case for geospatial analysis

“…The unadjusted expected case density is based purely on child population. We also calculated expected case density taking into account age/sex-specific prevalence reflecting three age classes (<6, [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] and SES by applying the HOUSES-specific AE prevalence.…”

“…4 Likewise, we recently reported that lower SESas measured by the individual-level SES measure HOUSES (HOUsing-based SocioEconomic Status)is an independent risk factor for childhood adversity in the mixed rural-urban community of Olmsted County, Minnesota. 6 Apart from SES, factors associated with the risk of childhood trauma have been reported relating housing or neighborhood characteristics and a number of different topics including health complaints, 7,8 cigarette smoking, dental hygiene, 9 chronic health conditions, 3,10 functional and cognitive impairment, 11 inhalation exposures, 8,[12][13][14][15][16] and infection risk. Scant literature addresses the impact of housing and neighborhoods on health outcomes in a well-defined pediatric population with existing studies focusing on the elderly 11 or high school students.…”

“…6 Apart from SES, factors associated with the risk of childhood trauma have been reported relating housing or neighborhood characteristics and a number of different topics including health complaints, 7,8 cigarette smoking, dental hygiene, 9 chronic health conditions, 3,10 functional and cognitive impairment, 11 inhalation exposures, 8,[12][13][14][15][16] and infection risk. Scant literature addresses the impact of housing and neighborhoods on health outcomes in a well-defined pediatric population with existing studies focusing on the elderly 11 or high school students. 9 While the impact of neighborhood environment on other health outcomes has been reported, 17 at present, little is known about whether AEs occur in a geographically clustered manner, which specific geographic or neighborhood areas are associated with risk of AEs, and what characterizes certain children residing in such areas as high or low risk.…”

Exploring southeast US mobile and manufactured home residents’ anchoring decisions

“…Mobile and manufactured home residents are a diverse population; however, they are represented in greater proportions across a range of social vulnerabilities. For example, there are higher percentages of people with disabilities and substance abuse issues [15]; elderly citizens who often have decreased mobility, higher rates of health issues, and poorer hearing [15,16,17,18]; migrant populations with language limitations [19,20]; and people living below the poverty level [21]. Further, researchers have found a slight majority of this population believes their home is a safe shelter location for a tornado [22] and fewer than 30% evacuate ahead of a tornado, despite the safety guidance given by the NWS and FEMA [23,24,25].…”