. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Feb 24.

Published in final edited form as: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2008 Jul;63(4):S201–S210. doi: 10.1093/geronb/63.4.s201

Table 1.

Relationship of Individual Health Indicators Over a 30-year Period to Functional Status of Older African American Women^a,^b

	Functional status at Time 3:				Functional status comparisons^c
	High (H) N=104 (18.8%)	Usual (U) N=340 (61.5%)	Low (L) N=109 (19.7%)	Chi square	Unadjusted	Age adjusted
Health Indicators (Time 3)
Arthritis	30.1%	57.2%	84.4%	^***	H<U^***	H<U^***
					U<L^***	U<L^***
					H<L^***	H<L ^***

Diabetes	14.6%	21.8%	37.6%	^***	H<U	H<U
					U<L^***	U<L^***
					H< L^***	H<L^***

Cancer	6.9%	5.9%	9.3%	ns	H<U	H<U
					U<L	U<L
					H<L	H<L

Hypertension	46.6%	63.4%	81.7%	^***	H<U^**	H<U^**
					U<L^***	U<L^***
					H<L^***	H<L^***

Cardiovascular disease^c	8.7%	26.0%	51.4%	^***	H<U^***	H<U^***
					U<L^***	U<L^***
					H<L^***	H<L^***

Asthma or Lung Disease^d	6.8%	15.9%	28.4%	^***	H<U^*	H<U^*
					U<L^**	U<L^**
					H<L^***	H<L^***

Poor/fair health self-rated	11.7%	36.0%	83.5%	^***	H<U^***	H<U^***
					U<L^***	U<L^***
					H<L^***	H<L^***

Health Indicators (Time 2)
Not healthy ^e	5.8%	19.2%	33.9%	^***	H<U^**	H<U^**
					U<L^***	U<L^***
					H<L^***	H<L^***

Sad (very often, fairly often)	5.8%	17.1%	25.7%	^***	H<U^*	H<U^*
					U<L	U<L
					H<L^***	H<L^**

Health Indicators (Time 1)
Has chronic health condition^f	5.8%	10.7%	11.9%	^*	H<U	H<U
					U<L	U<L
					H<L	H<L

Sad (very often, fairly often)	1.9%	10.9%	12.8%	^*	H<U^**	H<U^**
					U<L^*	U<L^*
					H<L^***	H<L^***

Health in pregnancy (poor or fair)	16.7%	22.0%	29.5%	ns	H<U	H<U
					U<L	U<L
					H<L^*	H<L^*

For all tables: High functioning =in the highest 40% on 3 scales for bodily pain, physical functioning, and depressed mood; Low functioning=in the lowest 40% on 3 scales for bodily pain, physical functioning, and depressed mood; Usual functioning=all other score combinations

Data were collected at 3 time periods: Time 1=1966–67; Time 2=1976–77; Time 3=1997–98

Based on multinominal logistic regression

Cardiovascular disease comprises stroke, circulation problem (‘hardening of the arteries’), heart ‘trouble’ or heart attack

Asthma or lung disease comprises asthma, other respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, or lung diseases (emphysema, chronic bronchitis)

How healthy would you say you’ve been since Time 1 (1=very, 2=moderately, 3=not too, 4=not at all); not healthy = not too or not at all

Illness or condition that has lasted a long time or that needs medicine regularly, or that limits activity in any way (yes/no)

p≤0.05;

^**

p≤0.01;

^***

p≤0.001 in chi square analysis or oneway analysis of variance (Tukey’s HSD); ns=not significant