Christine L. Himes

Obesity, disease, and functional limitation in later life

Little is known about the effects of obesity late in life. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging and the Assets and Health Dynamics of the Oldest Old Survey, this study finds an increased prevalence of obesity, over time, among those 70 and older. Obesity is related most strongly to limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs) for women and to activities related to mobility. One ADL, eating, has a negative association to obesity. Obesity is associated with an increased prevalence of arthritis, diabetes, and hypertension. These results are cross-sectional and are based on self-reports of height and weight; they must be interpreted cautiously.

Effect of obesity on falls, injury, and disability.

To examine the effect of obesity on the propensity of older adults to fall, sustain a fall‐related injury, and develop disability in activities of daily living (ADLs) after a fall.

Demographic Conditions Responsible for Population Aging

This article develops and applies two expressions for the rate of change of a populations mean age. In one, aging is shown to be negatively related to contemporary birth rates and death rates. In a general sense, aging occurs when vital rates are too low, as illustrated through applications to the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan. The other expression relates the rate of aging to a populations demographic history, in particular to changes in mortality, migration, and the annual number of births. Applications to the United States and Sweden show that the dominant factor in current aging in these countries is a history of declining mortality. Migration also contributes significantly but in opposite directions in the two countries. The two approaches are integrated after recognizing that the rate of change in the mean age is equal to the covariance between age and age-specific growth rates. A decomposition of this co-variance shows that the two seemingly unrelated expressions contain exactly the same information about the age pattern of growth rates.

A Relational Model of Mortality at Older Ages in Low Mortality Countries

This paper presents a relational model of age-specific death rates at ages 45–99. It is based upon death rates calculated for single years of age and five-year periods from 1950 to 1985 in 16 low-mortality countries. Eighty-two data sets are used in the construction of the model. These data passed a rigorous quality test which involved comparisons of intercensal changes in cohort size with intercensal deaths. Construction of the model is based upon a logit transformation of death rates, which performed slightly better than a logarithmic transformation in statistical tests. A ‘standard’ mortality pattern is produced as a summary of age-specific death rates in these 82 data sets. Expressed in logits, the standard is highly linear in age for males. For females, systematic curvature of the type first identified by Horiuchi and Coale is observed. The proportionate rate of change in womens age-specific death rates is highest in the age group 70–80. Once this pattern has been embodied in the standard, we are ge...

Minority Group Status, Health Transitions, and Community Living Arrangements among the Elderly

This study examines patterns of change in functional capacity among Black and non-Latino White older persons over a 4-year period using the 1988 Longitudinal Study of Aging. The results reveal that among all three groups, improvements in functional capacity often follow declines, but they also show that Blacks are more likely than non-Latino Whites to suffer protracted declines in functional capacity, ultimately resulting in more serious incapacity. The central objective of the article is the development of a conceptual model to identify those factors that account for racial and ethnic group differences in health and functional capacity as well as the documented greater propensity of Black and Latino elderly to rely on informal sources of support in the community rather than on formal long-term care.

Parental Caregiving by Adult Women A Demographic Perspective

Daughters are a traditional source of assistance in the care of their elderly parents. Past studies of caregiving have failed to exploit the information available in cross-sectional surveys to examine changes in caregiving prevalence with age. In this research, the methodological techniques of demography are used to examine the risk and practice of parental care over the life of adult women. The analyses reveal that parental caregiving is relatively rare at any point in time; however, among older women with a surviving parent, parental caregiving is common. Over one half of adult women with a surviving parent can expect to provide care to that parent at some point in the future. Lengthening life expectancies are likely to increase both the prevalence of caregiving and the ages at which it occurs.

The Role of Friends in Caregiving

Changes in the formal health care system and in the health of the population are likely to increase the need for informal care of the sick and disabled. At the same time, high rates of divorce, a retreat from marriage, and increasing participation of women in the labor force are likely to decrease the ability of families to provide care. This research uses data from the National Survey of Families and Households to examine the role that friends play in the provision of care. The authors find that among caregivers, women providing care to a friend are more likely to be age peers and less likely to be employed or married than family caregivers. Friends seem less likely than family to take on care responsibilities when those responsibilities may conflict with other roles. If friends are to become a greater part of the care network, policies that encourage and enable the participation of nonfamily members will be important.

Nursing home entry in Germany and the United States

This paper investigates the transition into a nursinghome in old age, using recent panel survey data fromGermany and the United States. Among the questionsaddressed are: what is the incidence of nursing homeentry, and how does it vary by age and sex; and towhat extent are differentials in nursing home entryattributable to variations in family composition?Although the percentage of older persons living innursing homes is similar in these two countries, theage-specific rates of movement into them appear to bemuch lower in Germany than in the USA, possibly dueto the effects of public policies. The correlates ofnursing home entry appear to be similar acrosscountries as well, although data limitations limit ourability to make definitive comparisons.

Declining Eligibility for Social Security Spouse and Widow Benefits in the United States

Currently, two thirds of older women receive Social Security spouse and widow benefits, which are distributed on the basis of marital rather than employment status. But marriage rates are down, particularly among Black women. This study used June 1985, 1990, and 1995 Current Population Survey data to trace trends in marriage for women from five birth cohorts and to predict marital patterns for the latter three cohorts. The authors found that the proportion of women who will reach age 62 without 10-year marriages, and thus be ineligible for spouse and widow benefits, is increasing modestly for Whites and Hispanics but dramatically for African Americans. When women who were born in the 1960s reach age 62, 82% of Whites, 85% of Hispanics, and just 50% of Blacks will be eligible. The authors discuss alternative mechanisms for distributing benefits.

Cohort Differences in Adult Obesity in the United States: 1982-2002

Objectives: To examine the relative importance of broad social change, cohort-specific change, and population composition on trends in adult obesity over the past two decades. Methods: Using the National Health Interview Study from 1982 through 2002, 5-year birth cohorts are examined for differential trends in obesity. Logistic regression is used to separate out the effects of population composition from broad social change and cohort-specific change. Results: Results confirm that age-specific obesity rates have been increasing for successively born cohorts, indicating broad social change. There is little evidence for cohort-specific change, and only small effects of compositional change. Discussion: Although increasing diversity in the older population will probably result in higher rates of obesity in the future, increasingly sedentary lives and the uncertain impact of smoking cessation on weight outweigh population composition effects. More research is needed on the impact of lifestyle behaviors on the American population.