CDC: Black Nursing Home Residents Need More Help with ADLs

A new data brief from the CDC titled "Racial Differences in Functioning Among Elderly Nursing Home Residents, 2004" reveals that black nursing home residents (who account for 11 percent of the 1.3 million nursing home residents aged 65 or older) typically have a lower functional status than residents of other races.

This determination was based on data gathered from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey. The data showed that black residents:

• Are more likely to be totally dependent in both eating and toileting and as well as totally dependent in all five activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating, transferring and toileting)
• Are more likely to be incontinent of bowel, bladder or both
• Are less likely to have scheduled toileting plans when compared to bladder-incontinent residents of other races

In addition, the report notes that black nursing home residents are might be more likely to reside at facilities that have serious deficiencies, such as low staffing ratios and great financial vulnerability.

According to the report, these findings "identify important differences in the needs and care of black nursing home residents nationally."