Clay Olivio J, Thorpe Roland J, Wilkinson Larrell L, Plaisance Eric P, Crowe Michael, Sawyer Patricia, Brown Cynthia J
1. Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
2. Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Program for Research on Men's Health, Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Ethn Dis. 2015 Aug 7;25(3):271-8. doi: 10.18865/ed.25.3.271.
Maintaining functional status and reducing/eliminating health disparities in late life are key priorities. Older African Americans have been found to have worse lower extremity functioning than Whites, but little is known about potential differences in correlates between African American and White men. The goal of this investigation was to examine measures that could explain this racial difference and to identify race-specific correlates of lower extremity function.
Data were analyzed for a sample of community-dwelling men. Linear regression models examined demographics, medical conditions, health behaviors, and perceived discrimination and mental health as correlates of an objective measure of lower extremity function, the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). Scores on the SPPB have a potential range of 0 to 12 with higher scores corresponding to better functioning.
The mean age of all men was 74.9 years (SD=6.5), and the sample was 50% African American and 53% rural. African American men had scores on the SPPB that were significantly lower than White men after adjusting for age, rural residence, marital status, education, and income difficulty (P<.01). Racial differences in cognitive functioning accounted for approximately 41% of the race effect on physical function. Additional models stratified by race revealed a pattern of similar correlates of the SPPB among African American and White men.
The results of this investigation can be helpful for researchers and clinicians to aid in identifying older men who are at-risk for poor lower extremity function and in planning targeted interventions to help reduce disparities.
维持晚年的功能状态并减少/消除健康差异是关键优先事项。研究发现，非裔美国老年人的下肢功能比白人更差，但对于非裔美国男性和白人男性之间潜在的相关差异知之甚少。本研究的目的是研究能够解释这种种族差异的指标，并确定下肢功能的种族特异性相关因素。
对社区居住男性样本的数据进行分析。线性回归模型将人口统计学、医疗状况、健康行为、感知到的歧视和心理健康作为下肢功能客观指标（简短身体机能测试，SPPB）的相关因素进行研究。SPPB的分数范围为0至12分，分数越高表明功能越好。
所有男性的平均年龄为74.9岁（标准差=6.5），样本中50%为非裔美国人，53%居住在农村。在调整年龄、农村居住情况、婚姻状况、教育程度和收入困难程度后，非裔美国男性的SPPB得分显著低于白人男性（P<0.01）。认知功能的种族差异约占身体功能种族效应的41%。按种族分层的其他模型显示，非裔美国男性和白人男性中SPPB的相关因素模式相似。
本研究结果有助于研究人员和临床医生识别下肢功能较差风险较高的老年男性，并规划有针对性的干预措施以帮助减少差异。
