Soneji Samir
Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
Soc Biol. 2006;53(3-4):152-171. doi: 10.1080/19485565.2006.9989124.
Racial and sex disparities in chronic diseases and mortality are sources of health inequality and have been observed from infancy to adulthood. Disparities in health and mortality contribute to corresponding disparities in healthy life. I address two previously unanswered questions in the aging literature. First, does the racial and sex gap in healthy life narrow, persist, or expand over age and time, particularly considering severity of ill health, among the oldest old? Second, do some race-sex groups of birth cohorts live not just longer lives, but longer healthier lives, while others spend additional years in illness? To estimate the quantities, I employ a refined definition of physical disability and apply a new extension of Sullivan's method to true birth cohorts. The results suggest among the oldest old, few racial or sex disparities exist over age and time in mild disability. Yet, racial and sex disparities persist over age and time in severe disability.
慢性病和死亡率方面的种族及性别差异是健康不平等的根源，且从婴儿期到成年期都有体现。健康和死亡率的差异导致了健康生活方面相应的差异。我探讨了衰老文献中两个此前未得到解答的问题。第一，在高龄老人中，考虑到健康状况不佳的严重程度，健康生活方面的种族和性别差距在年龄增长和时间推移过程中是缩小、持续还是扩大？第二，某些出生队列的种族 - 性别群体是否不仅寿命更长，而且健康生活的时间更长，而其他群体则在患病状态下度过更多岁月？为了估计这些量，我采用了身体残疾的精确界定，并将沙利文方法的新扩展应用于真实出生队列。结果表明，在高龄老人中，轻度残疾在年龄增长和时间推移过程中几乎不存在种族或性别差异。然而，重度残疾在年龄增长和时间推移过程中种族和性别差异依然存在。
