Race/color functional limitation disparities in a “racial democracy”: findings among middle-aged and older adults in Brazil

ObjectivesBrazil is rapidly aging and expected to have increased rates of functional limitation. While some literature has analyzed race/color functional limitation disparities, no documented research has examined such disparities between age groups that lived through Brazil’s different political regimes. Guided by a life course perspective, we examine this research gap.MethodsWe used wave 1 (2015–2016) data (n = 8,980) from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study on Aging to examine race/color disparities in difficulty with mobility, episodic memory, near vision, and hearing. We computed age group–specific (i.e., 50–59; 60–69; 70–79; 80+) regression models of each difficulty while adjusting for demographic (age, sex), early-life (urban/rural childhood, mother’s education, father’s education, childhood health), socioeconomic (education, household income, work demand), health (comorbidities, medical care), social ties (marital status, living children, household size), and place (region, urban/rural residence) characteristics.ResultsIn ages 50–59, compared to White respondents, Black, Brown, and Indigenous respondents reported variations of greater difficulty with mobility, episodic memory, near vision, and hearing. In ages 60–69 and 70–79, Black and Brown respondents had worse episodic memory, while only Brown respondents had worse near vision. In ages 80+, only Brown respondents had worse episodic memory but better near vision. Early-life and place factors accounted for many of the Black and Brown disparities, respectively.DiscussionRace/color disparities in functional limitation were less common among the older, particularly Black, segment of Brazil’s population, while factors that shaped these disparities varied by race/color. This variance is influenced by divergent life conditions in 20th-century Brazil.