Characterizing Aging-Related Health in Older Women with a History of Incarceration: Multimorbidity, Polypharmacy, Mortality, Frailty, and Depression.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize aging-related health in women with past CLSI and compare with women with no-CLSI.

METHOD: Health and Retirement Study Wave 11 and 12 data from women age >50 with CLSI were compared with data from women age >50 with no-CLSI. Generalized linear models were estimated for aging-related health outcomes.

RESULTS

The group with CLSI (n = 230) was significantly younger than the no-CLSI group (n = 8035) yet had more physical, functional, and mental health challenges and fewer resources. Incarceration significantly predicted aging-related outcomes of multimorbidity, polypharmacy, mortality, frailty, and depression.

DISCUSSION: Earlier onset of physical and functional health conditions in women with past CLSI has implications for health education and promotion, clinical practice, and intervention design.