Research Paper
Health disparities among adults with physical disabilities or cognitive limitations compared to individuals with no disabilities in the United States

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Abstract

Background

National survey data indicate the number of individuals reporting a disability is rising. Those with disabilities experience a large number of barriers to health promotion and disease prevention programming. However, only a limited number of studies have used nationally representative data to examine the health status of individuals with disabilities in comparison to those without disabilities.

Objective/Hypothesis

We used the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS) to examine whether disability is associated with higher prevalence rates for common chronic diseases, lower use of preventive care and higher health care expenditures. Our research hypothesis was that nationally, adults with either physical disability or cognitive limitations experience significant health disparities in comparison to those with no disability.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective analysis comparing the health of adults (18 and over) with physical disabilities or cognitive limitations to individuals with no disability using data from the 2006 full year consolidated data file from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS). We used chi-squared tests, t-tests, and logistic regression to evaluate the association.

Results

Individuals with physical disabilities or cognitive limitations had significantly higher prevalence rates for 7 chronic diseases than persons with no disabilities. The disability groups were also significantly less likely than the no disability group to receive 3 types of preventive care.

Conclusions

These data suggest that adults with disabilities and chronic conditions receive significantly fewer preventive services and have poorer health status than individuals without disabilities who have the same health conditions. This indicates a need for public health interventions that address the unique characteristics of adults with disabilities, many of whom are at risk for high cost, debilitating conditions that may not have as severe an effect on other population segments.

Section snippets

Methods and materials

We conducted a retrospective analysis comparing the health of adults (18 and over) with physical disabilities or cognitive limitations to individuals with no disability. The data presented in this paper were taken from the MEPS 2006 full year consolidated data file.

Characteristics of the sample

The distribution of sex was nearly even for those with cognitive limitations and physical disabilities (40.8 % male and 39.2% male, respectively) (Table 1). However, in the no disabilities group, there was a greater proportion of men (49.6% male) than the cognitive limitations and physical disabilities groups. Average age varied widely between the groups. While the group with no disabilities averaged 41.7 years, the cognitive limitations group averaged 59.0 years and the physical disabilities

Discussion

The purpose of this research was to identify whether disability was associated with higher prevalence rates for common diseases, lower use of preventive care and higher health care expenditures. Using a national sample, the research built upon the limited foundation of knowledge from nationally representative data for this population.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Martha Hodgesmith for her influence and contributions to this manuscript through regular consultation and discussion and to Val Renault for her thoughtful editing. This research was developed under a grant from the Department of Education, NIDRR grant number H133B060018. However, this research does not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and endorsement by the Federal Government should not be assumed.

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    Financial disclosure: The authors have no financial disclosures to report.

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