Disability and its correlates with chronic morbidities among U.S. adults aged 50-<65 years.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the prevalence of disability and its associations with multiple chronic morbidities in U.S. adults aged 50-<65 years.

METHODS

Self-reported data on disability and chronic morbidities were collected from 95,103 participants (aged 50-<65 years) of the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Prevalence estimates for disability and chronic morbidities were age-standardized to the 2000 U.S. population. Adjusted odds ratios for disability among people with chronic morbidities (versus those without) were estimated using logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

The age-adjusted prevalence of the six chronic morbidities ranged from 3.1% (for stroke) to 40.3% (for arthritis). Overall, the prevalence of disability was 26.3%; it was significantly higher in adults with chronic morbidities than in those without and increased linearly with the number of the chronic morbidities. Adults with any of the chronic morbidities were 1.9 to 4.5 times as likely, and adults with 1 to 5-6 of the chronic morbidities were 2.7 to 42.9 times as likely, to have disability as those without after adjustment for demographics, smoking and leisure-time exercise.

CONCLUSIONS

Chronic morbidities remain major factors associated with disability in adults aged 50-<65 years. Effective interventions to prevent and manage chronic diseases from an earlier age may help reduce the risk of disability.