A Cross-sectional Study

Background: The older Hispanic population of the U.S. is growing at a tremendous rate. While ethnic-related risk and complications of diabetes are widely-acknowledged for older Hispanics, less is known about how health related quality of life is affected in this population. Methods: Cross-sectional study assessing differences in health related quality of life between older Mexican Americans with and without diabetes. Participants (n = 619) from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly were interviewed in their homes. The primary measure was the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36). Results: The sample was 59.6% female with a mean age of 78.3 (SD = 5.2) years. 31.2% (n = 193) of the participants were identified with diabetes. Individuals with diabetes had significantly (F = 19.35, p < .001) lower scores on the Physical Composite scale (mean = 37.50, SD = 12.69) of the SF-36 compared to persons without diabetes (mean = 43.04, SD = 12.22). There was no significant difference between persons with and without diabetes on the Mental Composite scale of the SF-36. Conclusion: Diabetes was associated with lower health related quality of life in older Mexican Americans. The physical components of health related quality of life uniformly differentiated those with diabetes from those without, whereas mental component scores were equivocal. Background As a nation, we are growing older and more diverse. The number of adults over 65 years in 2030 will be double that of 2000 [1-5]. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic population increased 58% from 1990–2000 in contrast to a 3% growth in non-Hispanic Whites [6]. The older Hispanic population (≥ 65 years) is increasing at a rate double the non-Hispanic white population, and is projected to reach 15 million by 2050 [7]. Among the Hispanic population, the largest sub-group is Mexican Americans who comprise approximately 70% of the larger Hispanic population [8]. The health profiles of Mexican American older adults are known to differ from non-Hispanic Whites and include increased risk for diabetes, obesity and reduced physical Published: 12 July 2007 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2007, 5:39 doi:10.1186/1477-7525-5-39 Received: 29 March 2007 Accepted: 12 July 2007 This article is available from: http://www.hqlo.com/content/5/1/39 © 2007 Graham et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.