Table 1.
Receipt of Task Assistance Among Community Dwelling Older Adults (65+) Who Were Routinely Accompanied to Physician Visits in 2006
| Accompanied Older Adults %, (95% Cl) |
Receives Task Assistance %, (95% CI) ‖ |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Care Recipient Characteristics | (31.3%) | No (18.6%) | Yes (12.7%) |
| Weighted Sample * | 9,552,000 | 5,665,000 | 3,887,000 |
| Mean age (years) | 78.0 (77.7, 78.3) | 76.4 (76.1, 76.8) | 80.3 (79.9, 80.7) |
| Female gender | 56.3 (54.8, 57.8) | 52.1 (49.8, 54.4) | 62.4 (60.1, 64.6) |
| Marital status † | |||
| Married | 62.2 (60.2, 64.1) | 71.9 (70.0, 73.8) | 47.9 (44.8, 51.1) |
| Widowed | 31.7 (29.9, 33.4) | 23.3 (21.4, 25.1) | 43.9 (40.9, 46.8) |
| Divorced/separated/never married | 6.2 (5.4, 7.0) | 4.8 (3.8, 5.8) | 8.2 (6.7, 9.7) |
| Less than high school education | 37.9 (35.6, 40.1) | 33.3 (30.7, 35.9) | 44.5 (41.4, 47.5) |
| Living arrangements | |||
| Lives alone | 19.0 (17.7, 20.3) | 16.3 (14.8, 17.8) | 23.0 (20.9, 25.2) |
| Lives with spouse only | 50.5 (48.4, 52.7) | 59.2 (56.6, 61.7) | 38.0 (35.0, 40.9) |
| Lives with spouse and/or children | 25.3 (23.6, 27.1) | 20.7 (18.7, 22.7) | 32.1 (29.6, 34.7) |
| Other arrangements | 5.1 (4.4, 5.8) | 3.9 (3.0, 4.8) | 6.8 (5.7, 8.0) |
| Race † | |||
| White | 84.8 (83.1, 86.6) | 86.2 (84.3, 88.2) | 82.8 (80.3, 85.3) |
| Black | 8.5 (6.8, 10.2) | 7.1 (5.5, 8.7) | 10.5 (7.9, 13.1) |
| Other | 6.7 (5.4, 7.9) | 6.6 (5.2, 8.0) | 6.7 (5.0, 8.4) |
| Perceived health status † | |||
| Excellent/very good | 33.6 (31.7, 35.5) | 43.7 (40.9, 46.5) | 18.8 (16.7, 20.9) |
| Good | 33.6 (31.9, 35.3) | 35.9 (33.6, 38.2) | 30.2 (28.0, 32.4) |
| Fair/poor | 32.9 (31.2, 34.5) | 20.4 (18.3, 22.4) | 51.0 (48.3, 53.8) |
| Mean numbers of chronic conditions †,‡,§ | 3.8 (3.7, 3.8) | 3.2 (3.1, 3.2) | 4.6 (4.5, 4.8) |
| Disability ‖ | |||
| IADL | 55.3 (53.4, 57.3) | 26.8 (24.8, 28.8) | 96.9 (95.9, 97.9) |
| ADL | 19.9 (18.3, 21.5) | 0.0% | 48.8 (46.0, 51.6) |
| Calendar year inpatient hospitalization# | 28.7 (26.9, 30.4) | 19.9 (17.8, 21.9) | 41.0 (38.3, 43.7) |
Source: Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, 2006.
Data are weighted to reflect the national population of continuously enrolled community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 years or older. Results in this table correspond to 3,900 study participants who were accompanied to routine physician visits in 2006.
<1% of observations with responses of "don't know", "refused", or "not ascertained"; categorized as "married", "white", "poor" self-rated health, and absence of chronic condition.
Self or proxy response to physician diagnosis for: hypertension, osteoarthritis, "other heart condition", diabetes, osteoporosis, coronary artery disease, psychiatric disorder (including depression), cancer, emphysema-asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke, vision impairment§, hearing impairment§, dementia, hip fracture, and Parkinson's disease
Includes: "a lot of trouble" seeing or "no usable vision" while wearing glasses or contact lenses; "a lot of trouble" hearing or deaf (with a hearing aid).
Health-related difficulty with any of 5 IADL tasks (using the telephone, light housework, meal preparation, shopping, paying bills) and ADL tasks (bathing, dressing, eating, transferring, toileting).
Fee-for-service beneficiaries only.