Journal
JOURNAL OF AGING AND HEALTH
Volume 23, Issue 7, Pages 1189-1217Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0898264311421961
Keywords
neighborhood context; frailty; disability; cognitive; positive affect; Mexican Americans
Categories
Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [R13 AG029767, R01 AG017638, P30 AG024832, R01-AG017638, R01-AG10939-17, R01 AG010939] Funding Source: Medline
- NICHD NIH HHS [K12HD052023, K12 HD052023] Funding Source: Medline
- NIMH NIH HHS [R21 MH080624, R21-MH080624] Funding Source: Medline
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Objective: Little is known about the nature of the frailty syndrome in older Hispanics who are projected to be the largest minority older population by 2050. The authors examine prospectively the relationship between medical, psychosocial, and neighborhood factors and increasing frailty in a community-dwelling sample of Mexican Americans older than 75 years. Method: Based on a modified version of the Cardiovascular Health Study Frailty Index, the authors examine 2-year follow-up data from the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (H-EPESE) to ascertain the rates and determinants of increasing frailty among 2,069 Mexican American adults 75+ years of age at baseline. Results: Respondents at risk of increasing frailty live in a less ethnically dense Mexican-American neighborhood, are older, do not have private insurance or Medicare, have higher levels of medical conditions, have lower levels of cognitive functioning, and report less positive affect. Discussion: Personal as well as neighborhood characteristics confer protective effects on individual health in this representative, well-characterized sample of older Mexican Americans. Potential mechanisms that may be implicated in the protective effect of ethnically homogenous communities are discussed.
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