The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61541

Monika Mitra, PhD¹, Nancy Wilber, EdD¹, and Debbie Klein Walker, EdD². (1) Bureau of Family and Community Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington St, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02108, 617-624-5592, monika.mitra@state.ma.us, (2) Associate Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02108-4619

The Massachusetts Survey of Secondary Conditions (MSSC) was a three phase longitudinal survey examining the epidemiology of secondary conditions and other health outcomes among a sample of people with disabilities in Massachusetts. This presentation describes phase I predictors of fair/poor health in phase 3, controlling for potential confounders. Of the 353 phase 3 respondents, almost 43% reported being in fair to poor health in the past twelve months. Bivariate analysis of phase 1 data indicated that fair/poor health was associated with variables related to access (such as difficulty with transportation and overall difficulty with medical care), unmet need for help (such as needing help with more ADL and IADL domains), healthy behaviors (such as difficulty with physical exercise and difficulty maintaining weight), and tobacco use in the past four weeks. Fair/poor health status was associated with the following poor health outcomes: a greater number secondary conditions, worsening health over the past year, a greater number of days unable to work or go to school, and more physician visits in the past year. Logistic regression, using Generalized Estimating Equations, indicates that controlling for baseline health status, sociodemographics and other mediating factors, respondents who were older (OR=1.03), had difficulty with access to medical care (OR=1.93), had smoked in the past four weeks (OR=1.84), and had difficulty with physical exercise (OR=2.9) were more likely to report fair or poor health outcomes in the final phase. These findings reveal the importance of public health intervention efforts in improving the health of people with disabilities.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be informed about the health status of adults with major disabilities. They will develop an understanding of the connection between mediating factors amenable to public health intervention and poor health outcomes among people with disabilities. Finally, participants will recognize the importance of incorporating questions on self-reported health status in disability research.

Keywords: Disability, Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.