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Abstract
Poor early conditions have been associated with increasing risks of some chronic diseases during adulthood. Since chronic illnesses are known to be important risk factors for disability, poor early conditions should predict disability at older ages. In addition, recent literature suggests that poor early conditions may affect the risk of disability even in the absence of chronic illnesses. We aimed to evaluate the magnitude of differentials in the risk of being disabled according to early conditions experienced by elderly populations in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to identify the group of chronic illnesses responsible for it. We find that poor early conditions exert a strong influence on disability later in life in two ways: by increasing the risk of suffering disability-related chronic illnesses and by increasing the risks of suffering disabilities by those with chronic illnesses.
Notes
1. Malena Monteverde, Kenya Noronha, and Alberto Palloni are at the Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and at the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University. Corresponding author: Kenya Noronha, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-4100, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
2. The study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG016209 and R37 AG025216) and the Fogarty International Center (FIC) training programme (5D43TW001586) to the Center for Demography and Ecology (CDE) and the Center for Demography of Health and Aging (CDHA), University of Wisconsin–Madison. CDE is funded by the NICHD Center Grant 5R24HD04783; CDHA by the NIA Center Grant 5P30AG017266. We are very grateful to the reviewers of Population Studies for their valuable criticisms that helped us to improve the first version of this manuscript.