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Background Everyday discrimination—experiences of being treated unfairly based on background characteristics like race—is linked to poor physical and mental health throughout the lifespan. Whether more experiences of discrimination are associated with higher odds of being hospitalized in older African Americans has not been explored. Methods Community-dwelling participants from 3 longitudinal cohort studies (N  = 446, age 65+ years) with discrimination scores and ≥12 months of linked Medicare claims were included. Hospitalizations were identified using Medicare fee-for-service claims, available for an average of 6.2 (SD : 3.7) years of follow-up after baseline. Results In mixed-effects ordinal logistic regression models (outcomes of 0, 1, or 2+ hospitalizations per year) adjusted for age, sex, education, and income, higher discrimination was associated with higher odds of total annual hospitalizations (odds ratio [OR] per point higher = 1.09, 95% confidence intervals [95% CI]: 1.02–1.17). Results were similar when accounting for depressive symptoms. Conclusions Higher exposure to everyday discrimination is associated with higher odds of hospitalization among older African Americans. Mechanisms underlying associations should be explored further to understand how hospitalizations may be reduced in older African Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Evidence indicates the health care system disproportionately misses dementia in African American compared to White individuals. In preliminary data, we examined factors related to dementia identification by the health care system among African Americans. Methods We leveraged linked Medicare fee-for-service claims and detailed annual cohort evaluations in African Americans from 4 cohorts at Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center. Results Among 88 African Americans with cognitive impairment (mean = 10 years follow-up), Medicare claims identified dementia <2 years from cohort diagnosis in 55%; 27% were identified 2–9.9 years after cohort diagnosis, and in 18% there was either no claims diagnosis during the study period, or claims identified dementia 10+ years after cohort diagnosis. Claims identification of dementia was related to older age at cohort diagnosis (eg, <2 years between cohort and claims: mean = 82 years; 10+ years/no diagnosis: mean = 77 years, p  = .04), lower Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (<2 years: mean = 24; 10+ years/no diagnosis: mean = 26, p  = .04), more depressive symptoms (<2 years: mean = 2.1 symptoms; 10+ years/no diagnosis: mean = 1.2, p  = .04), and more comorbidity (<2 years: mean = 5.6 comorbidities; 10+ years/no diagnosis, mean = 3.0, p  = .02). Conclusions Among African Americans, preliminary data indicate the health care system most rapidly identifies dementia in older individuals, with worse cognitive and physical health. The health care system may miss opportunities for early support of African Americans with dementia, and caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]