Study: Latino Seniors Spend Half Their Remaining Lives with a Disability

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Although Latinos tend to live longer than other ethnic groups, they also spend a high proportion of their later years with disability, according to a new study, Health Canal reports.

In fact, Latinos ages 65 and older spend half their remaining years with serious physical impairments.

The study, which followed a cohort of several thousand Mexican Americans for 18 years, evaluated physical performance—balance, standing, walking, grip strength, and the ability to get out of a chair.

Respondents with less education and lower financial stability were more likely to experience functional decline than those with higher levels of education and financial stability, and older women who were born in Mexico suffered longer periods of disability, according to Health Canal.

This means many older Mexican Americans need extensive care, either from their families or others, which has implications for Mexican-American families and for long-term care policy.

“These findings reveal that poverty and lifelong disadvantages seriously undermine the health of many older Mexican Americans,” Jacqueline L. Angel, a study author from the University of Texas at Austin, told Health Canal. “Our data also show though that the family steps in to provide care to even seriously impaired older parents, we must develop policies and programs that complement the family in their ability to provide care to older infirm parents in order to improve the quality of life of both the older parents and their caregivers.”