336367
Aging among older Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: What improves health-related quality of life?
Monday, November 2, 2015
: 9:10 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
This study investigates differences among older Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using the SF12-V2’s physical and mental summary measures. Data from the 2004/2005 National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) were analyzed for a subsample of older Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (ages 45-90; N=339) that was 60.2% female, 30.2% ages 65-90, 74.6% foreign-born, and 10.8% refugee. OLS regression analyses included interaction tests for differences in the impact of risk and protective factors depending on age (ages 45-64 vs. 65-90). Better physical health was significantly associated with: younger age group; being foreign-born (significantly stronger for ages 45-64); shorter US-residence; being married; lower religious involvement; greater use of English (significantly stronger for ages 65-90); less perceived health care discrimination; and, less perceived stress. Better mental health was associated with: being foreign-born; not being a refugee (only significant for ages 45-64); greater social support; greater use of English; and, less perceived stress (significantly stronger for ages 65-90). Final models accounted for 25.8% of the variance in physical HRQOL and 30.7% of the variance in mental HRQOL. Factors found not related to either outcome were: gender; education; household income; paid work; health insurance; social network size; race/ethnic group social preference; cultural group identification; and, traumatic events in the past year. The study identifies social and cultural factors that are likely important for the HRQOL of aging Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, as well as how the impact of certain factors changes with age.
Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Identify social and cultural factors that are likely important for the health-related quality of life of aging Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.
Analyze whether certain social and cultural factors have differing health effects for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans who are ages 45-64 versus ages 65-90.
Discuss the implications of age-specific social and cultural influences on health-related quality of life among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and identify needed future research.
Keyword(s): Aging, Asian and Pacific Islanders
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a medical sociologist who has published on aging, trajectories of socio-medical and clinical phenomena, cross-cultural Japanese gerontology, social-psychology of decision making, health workforce needs, and informed consent with older adults. I received MA and PhD degrees in sociology from the University of Chicago, and completed a National Science Foundation Fellowship at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
