Clock drawing phenotypes in community-dwelling African Americans and Caucasians: results from the University of Alabama at Birmingham study of aging.

Background: Two dementia patterns have been described: 'type 1' dementia is characterized by executive function impairment and posterior cortical impairment, and 'type 2' dementia is characterized by executive impairment and relatively preserved posterior cortical function. The Executive Clock Drawing Task (CLOX) has been used to discriminate between type 1, type 2, and normal cognitive phenotypes. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of these phenotypes in community-dwelling African American and Caucasian elders.

Bereavement among African American and White older adults.

Purpose: The authors examined epidemiology and sociodemographic predictors of spousal, non-spousal family, and friendship bereavement among African American and White community-dwelling older adults using longitudinal data from 839 participants of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging, a prospective cohort study of a random sample of Alabama Medicare beneficiaries.

Method: Authors calculated cumulative incidences of each type of loss and used logistic regression to identify factors significantly and independently associated with loss.

Results: Of participants, 71% reported at least one loss; 50% reported non-spousal family loss, and 37% reported friendship loss.

Functional limitations and religious service attendance among African American and white older adults.

Church attendance is associated with improved health and well-being among older adults, but older adults with functional limitations may have difficulty attending church services. This article examines differences in the association between functional limitations and church attendance in a sample of 987 elderly African American and white individuals. African American and white elderly people without limitations attended church at virtually the same rate (69 percent).

The relationship between sociodemographic factors and oral health-related quality of life in dentate and edentulous community-dwelling older adults.

Objectives: To quantify the associations between sociodemographic factors and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in dentate and edentulous community-dwelling older adults.

Design: Cross-sectional study using a 54-item OHRQoL questionnaire.

Setting: Five counties in central Alabama: Jefferson and Tuscaloosa (urban), and Hale, Bibb, and Pickens (rural).

The feminization of bereavement among community-dwelling older adults.

We examined gender differences in frequency and sociodemographic predictors of spousal, non-spousal family, and friendship bereavement events among community-dwelling older adults using data from the UAB Study of Aging. Analysis involved a 30-month observation period of 893 subjects. There were significant differences between women and men for all types of loss.

Assessing mobility in older adults: the UAB Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment.

Background And Purpose: The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment (LSA) is a relatively new instrument to measure mobility. The purpose of this report is to describe the relationships between LSA and traditional measures of physical function, sociodemographic characteristics, depression, and cognitive status.

Subjects: Subjects were a stratified random sample of 998 Medicare beneficiaries aged > or =65 years.

Social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in an older sample: ethnic and gender differences.

This study examines the relationships that exist between social isolation, support, and capital and nutritional risk in older black and white women and men. The paper reports on 1000 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and older enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging, a longitudinal observational study of mobility among older black and white participants in the USA. Black women were at greatest nutritional risk; and black women and men were the groups most likely to be socially isolated and to possess the least amounts of social support and social capital.

Racial similarities and differences in predictors of mobility change over eighteen months.

Objectives: To define racial similarities and differences in mobility among community-dwelling older adults and to identify predictors of mobility change.

Design: Prospective, observational, cohort study.

Participants: Nine hundred and five community-dwelling older adults.