Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
Published on: September 30, 2020
Reductions in disability prevalence among the highest income groups of older Brazilians
Maria Isabel Parahyba1, Kara Stevens, William Henley
1Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais, Av. República do Chile, 500/8 degrees andar, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, 20031-170, Brazil. isabel.parahyba@ibge.gov.br
Objectives:
We sought to identify the income-disability prevalence relationship among older Brazilians.
Methods:
Data were from 63,985 individuals 60 years and older from the 1998 and 2003 Brazilian National Household Surveys. Generalized additive logistic models with cubic regression splines were used to estimate the disability-income relationships.
Results:
There was a strong linear relationship between increased income and reduced disability prevalence for most of the income distribution. Benefits were still present above the 90th percentile of income but were more modest. Because incomes among the wealthiest few are disproportionately large, odds ratios of disability nevertheless showed marked improvements, even across the very highest income groups.
Conclusions:
Among older Brazilians, reduced disability is associated with higher income, and these associations are present even above the 90th percentile of income. In addition to understanding mechanisms of disability reduction among impoverished individuals, work is needed to understand these mechanisms in middle- and high-income groups.
Related Concept Videos
Prevalence and Incidence
Prevalence indicates the proportion of individuals in a population who have a specific disease or health condition at a...
Bias in Epidemiological Studies
Bone Disorders
Bone deposition is also affected by the levels of sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone that promote osteoblast activity and bone matrix synthesis. When the level of these hormones decreases due to aging, it causes a reduction in bone deposition. As a result, bone resorption by osteoclasts...
Factors Affecting Illness
For instance, risk factors are connected to illness, disability,...
Intellectual Disability
Relative Risk
