Everyday Discrimination is Associated with Higher Odds of Hospitalizations among Older African Americans.

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 three 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 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 (OR per point higher=1.09, 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.