Aging
Lifetime Earnings and Dual Functionality: Findings from Social Security Administration Earnings linked to the Health and Retirement Study Calvin Colvin* Calvin Colvin Colvin Colvin Colvin Colvin Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Financial resources in older age are linked to better physical and cognitive health. Yet, financial resources accrue over the life course; assessments limited to older age, which are often self-reported, may obscure the contribution of earlier-life finances to healthy aging. We use US Social Security Administration (SSA) records linked to the Health and Retirement Study to examine how lifetime earnings influence healthy aging, measured by Dual Functionality (DF)—defined as the absence of physical or cognitive limitations.
Lifetime earnings were defined as participants’ cumulative, inflation-adjusted earnings from all available SSA records through age 60 and categorized into gender and 5-year birth cohort-specific quintiles. DF, defined as having no limitations with activities of daily living and being dementia free, was assessed from 2000-2020, and participant’s follow up for loss of DF began at the first interview they were ≥60 years of age within that period. We included participants born 1931-1956, with ≥2 measures of DF, and no history of DF loss at their first DF assessment. We analyzed men and women separately using generalized gamma accelerated failure time models with age as the time scale. Larger time ratios (TRs) indicate longer times to DF loss (i.e. prolonged physical and cognitive functioning).
Our sample included 4,914 men (mean age: 62.5) and 6,048 women (mean age: 62.3). In total, 32.3% of men and 34.7% of women lost DF over medians of 9 and 10 years of follow up. Compared to men in the bottom (1st) quintile, TRs (95% confidence intervals [CI]) were 1.05 (1.02-1.07), 1.09 (1.06-1.11), 1.09 (1.06-1.11), and 1.12 (1.09-1.15) for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th quintiles, respectively. Compared to women in the 1st quintile, TRs (95% CIs) were 1.01 (0.99-1.03), 1.02 (1.00-1.14), 1.04 (1.02-1.07), and 1.05 (1.02-1.07) for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th quintiles, respectively.
Higher lifetime earnings were associated with prolonged physical and cognitive functioning.