Prevalence and Correlates of Disability in a Late Middle-Aged Population of Women

Abstract

Objectives This study estimates the prevalence of disability among late middle-aged women and identifies important correlates of disability among this population. Methods Disability was assessed among 376 participants of the Michigan Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation cohort at the 2011 follow-up using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale. Demographic and health measures were related to disability status using logistic regression models (none or mild vs. moderate, severe or extreme disability). Results Nearly 25% of women reported moderate to extreme global disability. African-American race/ethnicity, economic strain, peripheral neuropathy and depressive symptomatology was associated with global disability. Obesity, knee osteoarthritis and hypertension were only associated with disability for the mobility domain (getting around). Discussion The prevalence of disability is relatively high among this population of late middle-aged women. Efforts to prevent or forestall disability should be extended to include mid-aged populations as they may be most amenable to intervention.

Cancer and treatment-related symptoms are associated with mobility disability in women with ovarian cancer: A cross-sectional study

“…In that study, 65.2% endorsed presence of any amount of mobility disability, and 39.0% endorsed moderate to severe mobility disability. (16) However, their sample comprised a higher proportion of racial and ethnic minorities and women of low socioeconomic status than did ours; these two groups tend to have higher rates of mobility disability than the general population. (17) While prevalence of mobility disability is similar in the two samples, it is possible that in a more socioeconomically representative sample of OC survivors the prevalence of mobility disability would be even higher than present in our sample, given the symptom burden present in OC survivors.…”

Impairments and comorbidities of polyneuropathy revealed by population-based analyses

“…Nevertheless, the clear importance of identifying and treating diabetes in polyneuropathy is further emphasized by this study, especially as world populations are shifting to older and heavier weight demographics with increased prevalence of diabetes. 27 Our results not only further emphasized that polyneuropathy is disabling, [11][12][13][14][15]35 but also provided new insights that polyneuropathy was independently associated with greater pain and prescription of analgesics, increased lower limb complication rates (including ulcers, 20.4%, and amputations, 4.1%), greater impairment of most ADLs, higher fall tendency, stair climbing difficulty, and reliance on assistive devices or assistance from others. The degrees of impairment associations were often striking with ORs frequently greater than 3.0 even after correction for the associated multiple Charlson comorbidities.…”

“…1 Previous studies assessing polyneuropathy prevalence [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] or disease burden [11][12][13][14][15] have focused on specific polyneuropathy subtypes or used small cohorts with limited demographics. From those studies, certain polyneuropathies have been suggested to have substantial disease burden from physical impairments 16,17 or even mortality.…”

“…The present study assessed the most comprehensive range of impairment markers to date irrespective of polyneuropathy subtype, utilized a unique database representative of national demographics, and conducted statistical analysis in 5:1 ratio of age-and sex-matched controls and polyneuropathy cases correcting for comorbidity associations. Prior prevalence estimates (2.3%-12.2%) excluded younger individuals, 3,5-8 are sex-specific, 11,15 or are from a consanguineous population. 2 Our study screened all demographics of a large population with documented generalizability 22 uniformly for not only polyneuropathy, but also functional impairments corrected for associated comorbidities.…”

Socioeconomic Factors at the Intersection of Race and Ethnicity Influencing Health Risks for People with Disabilities

“…White men have been found to be least likely to have a disability, while black and Hispanic women were most likely [45]. Other studies have found that non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican-Americans were significantly more likely to report a disability than were non-Hispanic white men and women [35], while African American women were significantly more likely to have a disability compared to white women [31]. …”