Double Jeopardy? Age, Race, and HRQOL in Older Adults with Cancer
Open Access
- 25 July 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Hindawi Limited in Journal of Cancer Epidemiology
- Vol. 2012, 1-9
- https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/478642
Abstract
Understanding the post-treatment physical and mental function of older adults from ethnic/racial minority backgrounds with cancer is a critical step to determine the services required to serve this growing population. The double jeopardy hypothesis suggests being a minority and old could have compounding effects on health. This population-based study examined the physical and mental function of older adults by age (mean age = 75.7, SD = 6.1), ethnicity/race, and cancer (breast, prostate, colorectal, and gynecologic) as well as interaction effects between age, ethnicity/race and HRQOL. There was evidence of a significant age by ethnicity/race interaction in physical function for breast, prostate and all sites combined, but the interaction became non-significant (for breast and all sites combined) when comorbidity was entered into the model. The interaction persisted in the prostate cancer group after controlling for comorbidity, such that African Americans and Asian Americans in the 75–79 age group report lower physical health than non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanic Whites in this age group. The presence of double jeopardy in the breast and all sites combined group can be explained by a differential comorbid burden among the older (75–79) minority group, but the interaction found in prostate cancer survivors does not reflect this differential comorbid burden.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Impact of Cancer on Health-Related Quality of Life of Older AmericansJNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2009
- Cancer Survivors and Survivorship Research: A Reflection on Today's Successes and Tomorrow's ChallengesHematology/Oncology Clinics of North America, 2008
- Multiple Cancer Prevalence: A Growing Challenge in Long-term SurvivorshipCancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 2007
- Possible socioeconomic and ethnic disparities in quality of life in a cohort of breast cancer survivorsBreast Cancer Research and Treatment, 2007
- After prostate cancer: Predictors of well‐being among long‐term prostate cancer survivorsCancer, 2006
- Physical and Mental Health Status of Older Long‐Term Cancer SurvivorsJournal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2005
- Pessimism as a predictor of emotional morbidity one year following breast cancer surgeryPsycho‐Oncology, 2003
- Racial Differences in the Health of Older-Adult Long-Term Cancer SurvivorsJournal of Psychosocial Oncology, 2002
- Improvements in pathologic staging for African-American men undergoing radical retropubic prostatectomy during the prostate specific antigen eraCancer, 2001
- A 12-Item Short-Form Health SurveyMedical Care, 1996