Objective: To compare sociodemographic characteristics, physical function, and cognition of Mexican American and non-Hispanic white nursing home residents.
Design and setting: Cross-sectional survey of residents in eight proprietary nursing homes and one Veterans Affairs nursing home in San Antonio, Texas.
Subjects: Residents with lengths of stay greater than or equal to 90 days.
Measurements: Sociodemographic characteristics, residence prior to admission, and dependency in activities of daily living (ADL) were abstracted from the medical record. The Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was administered in the resident's self-selected language to a subset of residents.
Main results: There were 1160 participants, 261 Mexican American (23%) and 899 non-Hispanic white residents (77%). Mexican Americans were younger (77.1 vs 80.7 years), more often men (44% vs 30%), less educated (6.2 vs 10.8 years), and more often dependent on Medicaid funding (66% vs 40%) than non-Hispanic whites. Mexican Americans were less independent in feeding (34% vs 49%), transfers (18% vs 30%), toileting (19% vs 29%), and dressing (12% vs 19%). Mean MMSE scores were different in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites (8.93 vs 11.85), and this difference remained significant after adjustment for age and education (P = 0.04). ADL function was strongly associated with MMSE (P = 0.0001) and less strongly associated with ethnicity (P = 0.056) in multiple regression analysis.
Conclusions: This study provides the strongest evidence to date that Mexican American nursing home residents are more cognitively and functionally impaired than non-Hispanic white residents. Further studies should explore whether medical conditions, selection and referral patterns or cultural factors explain functional differences between Mexican American and non-Hispanic white nursing home residents.