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Moving Towards a More Comprehensive Investigation of Racial/Ethnic Differences in Cognitive Disability Among US Adults

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Abstract

We examined racial/ethnic differences in cognitive disability and the contribution of sociodemographic factors to these differences. Using logistic regression, we measured the association between race/ethnicity and cognitive disability after adjustment for sociodemographic covariates, including agegroup, sex, education, nativity, region, marital status, and occupation among 2009 American Community Survey respondents (≥25 years). Effect modification was also explored. Cognitive disability was self-reported by 6 % of respondents. The proportion with cognitive disability was highest for Blacks and Native American/Pacific Islanders. Statistically significant effect modification was observed for all sociodemographic covariates, except sex. Although most sociodemographic modifiers revealed a more convoluted relationship between race/ethnicity and cognitive disability, the cognitive benefits of higher education, foreign born nativity, and top-tier occupations were observed among most racial/ethnic groups. The observed interplay between sociodemographics and race/ethnicity highlight a complex relationship between race/ethnicity and cognitive disability. Future research should examine mechanisms for this induced complexity.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Mary Sano for her thoughtful insight and extremely useful constructive criticism. The authors would also like to acknowledge the NIH Loan Repayment Program for Health Disparities Research.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Biostatistics, Department of Health Evidence and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1077, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Emma K. T. Benn, Ashley Fox & Kezhen Fei

  2. Departments of Dentistry and Neurology, Global Institute of Public Health, New York University, 41 East 11th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Eric Roberts & Bernadette Boden-Albala

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  1. Emma K. T. Benn
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  2. Ashley Fox
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  3. Kezhen Fei
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Correspondence to Emma K. T. Benn.

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Benn, E.K.T., Fox, A., Fei, K. et al. Moving Towards a More Comprehensive Investigation of Racial/Ethnic Differences in Cognitive Disability Among US Adults. J Immigrant Minority Health 17, 1105–1113 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0073-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0073-0

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