Citation

Kaye, S. (2004, November 8). Fluctuating disability rates among working-age adults: Economic versus epidemiologic factors. Presented at the American Public Health Association 132nd Annual Meeting and Exposition hosted by American Public Health Association.

Summary

Recent data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) show that the rate of activity limitation reported by working-age adults rose significantly during each of the recession years of 2001 and 2002, just as it did during and immediately following the previous recession in the early 1990s. For both recessionary periods, the increase in overall activity limitation is dominated by a rise in self-reported inability to work. It has been suggested that, when jobs are scarce, economic motives cause people to emphasize the extent of their disability in order to acquire Social Security disability benefits. But our prior research showed that the early 1990s saw an increase not only in reported disability, but also in the reported prevalence of the chronic conditions and impairments that can cause disability. Because the latter increase affected a broad population, only a minority of whom reported inability to work, we concluded that rising disability rates were directly caused by epidemiologic factors, which in turn may have been caused at least partly by economic instability. Our current research, based on data from the 1997-2002 NHIS, extends this analysis to the expansionary period of the late 1990s and the current recession. We continue to find evidence that worsening levels of health and functioning are directly responsible for the increases in reported disability, and in particular inability to work, among working-age adults. An indirect effect of economic factors is also considered, as are factors related to health risks and the aging of the population.

Learning Objectives:

* Participants will (be able to identify recent trends in the overall disability rate and the rate of inability to work; (
* learn to distinguish between direct economic causes of fluctuating disability rates and those mediated by health and functional factors.

Keywords: Disability, Epidemiology