Aging with Disability among Midlife and Older Adults

Lois M. Verbrugge, University of Michigan
Kenzie Latham, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Philippa Clarke, University of Michigan

Aging with disability is usually studied for young adults with disability from birth or childhood. This analysis takes aging with disability into mid and later life. We study U.S. adults over age 50 for the period 1998-2010 (Health and Retirement Study), identifying persons with persistent disability. We study three types of disability: personal care (ADL), household management (IADL), and physical limitations (PLIM). Latent classes of disability trajectories are estimated and named based on members' baseline and over-time features. Results show that two or three classes are best fit for disability trajectories, with an aging with disability class for ADL, IADL, and PLIM. Hypotheses about sociodemographic and health predictors of aging with disability are tested. How persistent disability relates to outcomes such as income, depression, living arrangement, nursing home residence, and death is also studied.