Department of Sociology and Institute for Ethnic Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
Gerontologist. 2021 Apr 3;61(3):330-340. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnaa112.
To examine racial/ethnic, nativity, and gender differences in the benefits of educational attainment on cognitive health life expectancies among older adults in the United States.
We used data from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2014) to estimate Sullivan-based life tables of cognitively healthy, cognitively impaired/no dementia, and dementia life expectancies by gender for older White, Black, U.S.-born Hispanic, and foreign-born Hispanic adults with less than high school, high school, and some college or more.
White respondents lived a greater percentage of their remaining lives cognitively healthy than their minority Black or Hispanic counterparts, regardless of level of education. Among respondents with some college or more, versus less than high school, Black and U.S.-born Hispanic women exhibited the greatest increase (both 37 percentage points higher) in the proportion of total life expectancy spent cognitively healthy; whereas White women had the smallest increase (17 percentage points higher). For men, the difference between respondents with some college or more, versus less than high school, was greatest for Black men (35 percentage points higher) and was lowest for U.S.-born Hispanic men (21 percentage points higher).
Our results provide evidence that the benefits of education on cognitive health life expectancies are largest for Black men and women and U.S.-born Hispanic women. The combination of extended longevity and rising prevalence of Alzheimer's disease points to the need for understanding why certain individuals spend an extended period of their lives with poor cognitive health.
本研究旨在探讨美国老年人中，受教育程度对认知健康预期寿命的影响在种族/民族和性别方面的差异。
我们使用了来自健康与退休研究（1998-2014 年）的数据，根据 Sullivan 生命表，按性别估计了认知健康、认知障碍/无痴呆和痴呆预期寿命，研究对象为受教育程度较低（未完成高中学业）、完成高中学业和完成一些大学或更高学历的美国白种人、黑种人和美国出生的西班牙裔以及外国出生的西班牙裔成年人。
无论受教育程度如何，白人受访者在认知健康方面的剩余预期寿命百分比都高于他们的少数族裔黑人或西班牙裔同龄人。在完成一些大学或更高学历的受访者中，与未完成高中学业的受访者相比，黑人和美国出生的西班牙裔女性在认知健康预期寿命中所占比例的增加幅度最大（均增加 37 个百分点）；而白人女性的增幅最小（增加 17 个百分点）。对于男性，完成一些大学或更高学历的受访者与未完成高中学业的受访者之间的差异在黑人和美国出生的西班牙裔男性中最大（增加 35 个百分点），在西班牙裔男性中最小（增加 21 个百分点）。
我们的研究结果表明，受教育程度对认知健康预期寿命的影响在黑人和美国出生的西班牙裔女性和男性中最大。寿命延长和阿尔茨海默病患病率上升的结合表明，需要了解为什么某些人在认知健康较差的情况下度过了很长一段时间。
