Effects of Hurricane Sandy on Functional Limitation Trajectories of Older People

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Project Summary: Although natural disasters present serious challenges for residents of affected communities, many questions about their effects on the physical health of older adults remain. The long-term goal is to inform intervention and resource planning efforts designed to mitigate the effects of disasters on older people, reduce health care utilization and expenditures and improve the quality of life of older people. The objective of this application is to identify how trajectories of functional limitations are affected by disaster. Our central hypothesis is that the majority of older adults exposed to disaster are resilient, healthcare utilization and expenditures associated with some functional limitation trajectories in the wake of disaster are significant, and pre-disaster characteristics of individuals and communities can distinguish trajectories of resilience and vulnerability. Our hypothesis was formulated based on our previous empirical and conceptual work and on work by others. The rationale for the proposed research is that, once it is known how disasters affect functional limitation trajectories, interventions can be developed that will reduce the vulnerability of older adults and increase their resilience in the face of disaster, resulting in new and innovative approaches to improving the quality of life for older people. The hypothesis will be tested by pursing three specific aims: (1) To ascertain the effects of a natural disaster on the functional limitation trajectories of older adults; (2) To contrast the healthcare utilization and expenditures associated with functional limitation trajectories for older people experiencing disaster with those of older people not exposed to disaster; and (3) To identify the pathways by which risk factors and resilience resources influence trajectories of functional limitation. The aims will be addressed by building on a longitudinal panel of 1,977 people aged 65-80 when Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey. Three post-hurricane self-reported assessments would complement data from two prior data collection efforts. These data would be linked with Medicare/Medicaid claims data. This work is significant because it is the first step in a continuum of research expected to lead to the development of interventions that will bolster the capabilities of older people to face natural disasters without increasing functional limitations. The proposed research is innovative, because it: (1) focuses on functional limitations, a linchpin in the disability cycle, (2) examines the effects of disaster on a large representative sample of people living in one of the states hardest hit by a recent hurricane, and (3) builds on data collected before the storm struck, includes people with and without direct exposure to the storm, and has 3 post- disaster assessments, yielding one of the few studies able to disentangle causal relationships attributable to disaster. Knowledge from this project will advance understanding of disaster's effects on older people, and inform interventions likely to improve their quality of life, both before and after disasters strike.