Table 1.
Age-adjusted comparison of older adults in jail with older adults in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) overall and with older adults in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) in the lowest net worth quintile (net worth <$24,000)
| Older Adults in Jail (n = 238) | HRS overall (n = 6871) |
HRS in lowest net worth quintile (n = 1586) |
P-Value Jail vs. HRS overall |
P-Value Jail vs. HRS in lowest net worth quintile |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race/ethnicitya | |||||
| Non-White Race | 79.8% | 24.5% | 43.0% | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Education Level | |||||
| < High school | 74.8% | 10% | 21.2% | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| US Military Veteran | 25.2% | 27.3% | 28.7% | 0.501 | 0.247 |
| Marital Status | |||||
| Currently Married | 12.2% | 73.9% | 55.3% | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Separated/Divorced/Widowed | 54.6% | 17.5% | 29.6% | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Never Married | 32.8% | 8.8% | 15.2% | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Self-rated health | |||||
| Poor /Fair | 53% | 22.5% | 39.7% | < 0.001 | 0.009 |
| Good | 24.8% | 31.6% | 31.9% | < 0.001 | 0.009 |
| Very Good / Excellent | 22.2% | 45.9% | 28.4% | < 0.001 | 0.009 |
| Hypertensionb | 64.3% | 54.3% | 63.2% | < 0.001 | 0.607 |
| Diabetes | 18.5% | 21.5% | 27.2% | 0.237 | < 0.001 |
| Cancerc | 7.1% | 9.0% | 9.0% | 0.280 | 0.258 |
| Chronic lung disease | 16.4% | 7.2% | 12.1% | < 0.001 | 0.069 |
| Cardiovascular diseased | 21.8% | 19.2% | 21.2% | 0.329 | 0.823 |
| Stroke | 10.5% | 4.9% | 8.6% | 0.005 | 0.332 |
| Arthritis | 50.4% | 43.1% | 45.6% | 0.020 | 0.125 |
| Depression (self-report) | 27.3% | 19.2% | 28.0% | 0.004 | 0.887 |
| Serious Mental Illnesse | 55.5% | NA | NA | – | – |
| HIV | 5.1% | NA | NA | – | – |
| Hepatitis C | 49.6% | NA | NA | – | – |
| Heavy drinkerf | 17.4% | 6.3% | 6.8% | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
| Current smokerg | 64.7% | 20.7% | 32.9% | < 0.001 | < 0.001 |
aFurther details on race/ethnicity among older adults in jail: White 20%, Black 60%, Latino 9%, other 8%; among overall HRS: White 78%, Black 12%, Latino 9%, Other 3% (p < 0.001)
ball comorbidities including depression based on combination of self-report and review of jail medical record when available
cexcludes minor skin cancer
dincludes history of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, angina, congestive heart failure
ebased on the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ definition of “Serious Mental Illness,” which includes having a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, mania, or a psychotic disorder
fdefined as having 5 or more drinks on a typical day
gresponse of yes to “Do you smoke cigarettes?”