Fredric D Wolinsky
Biographic Data
| ID | 186171 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fredric D Wolinsky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fredric D |
| FAMILY NAME | Wolinsky |
| SIGNATURE | WOLINSKY F D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0916-4955 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 94 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 320 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 94 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Weight and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults
Weight gain did not lead to increased depressive symptoms, and weight loss preceded increased depressive symptoms only in unadjusted models among men (odds ratio [OR] = 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.53). Increased depressive symptoms were not predictive of subsequent weight loss, but they were predictive of subsequent weight gain in unadjusted models only (men: OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.00-1.54; women: OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.00-1.26). In…
Self-Rated Health Trajectories and Mortality Among Older Adults
Although measures of prior SRH trajectories did not have significant direct associations with mortality, they did have important indirect effects via their influence on current SRH
Neighbourhood environment and the incidence of depressive symptoms among middle-aged African Americans
Aim: To investigate the association between attributes of subject location and incidence of clinically relevant levels of depressive symptoms (CRLDS), and to investigate whether an association remained after adjusting for individual-level factors using data from the population-based African American Health Study. Methods: An 11-item depression scale (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale) was obtained at baseline and 3 years later thr…
Hospital Episodes and Physician Visits
BACKGROUND: Health services use typically is examined using either self-reports or administrative data, but the concordance between the 2 is not well established. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the concordance of hospital and physician utilization data from self-reports and claims data, and identified factors associated with disagreement. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis on linked observational and administrative data. A national sample of 431…
New Evidence of Racial Differences in Access and Their Effects on the Use of Nursing Homes Among Older Adults
BACKGROUND: Historical disparities in rates of nursing home placement between blacks and whites have been well documented, and are thought to result from more extensive and supportive social networks, cultural aversion, and poorer geographic access among African Americans. A few recent studies, however, suggest that these racial disparities may no longer exist. We used comprehensive data to assess whether racial differences in nursing home placem…
A comparison of traditional and Rasch cut points for assessing clinically important change in health-related quality of life among patients with asthma
Reliability and Validity of Observer Ratings of Neighborhoods
Observer ratings of neighborhoods show promise as a measure of neighborhood SES, despite problems with interviewer effects. Future work should improve objective criteria for ratings
The Effects of the Active Cognitive Training Trial on Clinically Relevant Declines in Health-Related Quality of Life
Although all three intervention arms improved cognitive ability, only the speed-of-processing arm protected against extensive clinically relevant decline in HRQoL
Test-Retest Reliability of Subclinical Status for Functional Limitation and Disability
Excellent test-retest reproducibility was demonstrated in this population-based sample of late middle-aged African Americans using Fried's method of measuring subclinical status
Reproducibility of Physical Performance and Physiologic Assessments
Additional interviewer training may improve the reproducibility of the tandem stand with eyes open
Further Evidence for the Importance of Subclinical Functional Limitation and Subclinical Disability Assessment in Gerontology and Geriatrics
The subclinical status measures were the main predictors of the onset of difficulty in all tasks and functions 1-2 years later. Interventions to reduce frailty should focus on self-reported subclinical status as an early warning system
Test-Retest Reliability of the Mirowsky-Ross 2 × 2 Index of the Sense of Control
This study investigated the short-term stability of the 1991 Mirowsky-Ross 2 x 2 Index of the Sense of Control. From an ongoing longitudinal study, 304 subjects were randomly selected for test-retest interviews occurring 1 to 4 days after their regularly scheduled first follow-up interview. Test-retest reliability was assessed at the item level using percent agreement and weighted kappa. At the scale score level, reliability was assessed with the…
Health-Related Quality of Life in Middle-Aged African Americans
The SF-36 is a reliable and valid measure of HRQoL for use with African Americans. In this sample, the HRQoL was below national averages. Future social epidemiologic studies should include grip strength, vision, and hearing assessments, which had substantial and consistent associations with the SF-36 scale scores
Personal Stress, Mental Health, and Sense of Control Among Older Adults
Older adults more closely resembling those who died during 9-11 and those with greater levels of religiosity were most likely to have their sense of control affected by this catastrophic event
Age, Aging, and the Sense of Control Among Older Adults
Longitudinal studies with repeated assessments over prolonged observation periods are now needed to elucidate age-related trajectories in the sense of control
Using the standard error of measurement to identify important changes on the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire
Linking Clinical Relevance and Statistical significance in Evaluating Intra-Individual Changes in Health-Related Quality of Life
OBJECTIVE: To compare the standard error of measurement (SEM) with established standards for clinically relevant intra-individual change in an evaluation of health-related quality of life. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial. SUBJECTS: Six hundred and five outpatients with a history of cardiac problems attending the general medicine clinics of a major academic medical center. MEASURES: Baseline and follow-up inte…
Predictors of Mobility and Basic ADL Difficulty among Adults Aged 70 Years and Older
We use data from the 1993-1995 Assets and Health Dynamics of the Oldest-Old survey to estimate predictors of onset of mobility difficulty, onset of basic activity of daily living (ADL) difficulty, and improvement to no mobility difficulty. Onset of mobility difficulty occurred among 20% of those with no difficulty at baseline (n = 2,857) and was most likely among those 85 years of age or over, women, those with a body-mass index of 30 or over, an…
Self-Rated Health and Adverse Health Outcomes
The relationship between poor self-rated health and adverse outcomes is not a simple reflection of unmeasured self-assessments of impending decline or doom. Rather, the effects of poor self-rated health and declining health trajectory appear to be independent and complementary
Changes in the SF-36 in 12 Months in a Clinical Sample of Disadvantaged Older Adults
OBJECTIVES: The present study assessed changes in the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) during a 12-month period and examined the relation of those changes to selected baseline characteristics. METHODS: The study was a 12-month follow-up evaluation of 786 disadvantaged adults aged 50 to 99 years old who had participated in a randomized controlled clinical trial in the general medicine outpatient clinics of a major ac…
The Risk of Hospitalization for Ischemic Stroke Among Older Adults
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for stroke and to estimate their relative importance in a large, nationally representative sample of very old men and women. METHODS: The study was designed as a secondary analysis of the Longitudinal Study on Aging. Baseline (1984) in-person interview data were linked to Medicare hospitalization records for 1984 to 1991. Participants were 6,071 noninstitutionalized adults 70 year…
Dimensions and Correlates of Physician Work Satisfaction in a Midwestern City
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the dimensions of physician work satisfaction across a variety of medical specialties and practice settings. METHODS: A modified version of the Scheckler et al survey instrument was mailed to all physicians in Marion County, Indiana. Forty-two percent (777) of the eligible physicians responded. Exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency measures were used to assess the instrument's va…
Impact of an All-Inclusive Diagnosis-Related Group Payment System on Inpatient Utilization
OBJECTIVES: Although case-based payment is one of the main reimbursement mechanisms for hospitals, little is known about its effects in the general population. Prior studies have focused on Medicare or on all-payer systems in particular states. This study estimates the effect of a prospective payment system based on diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) nationwide in the Department of Veterans Affairs. METHODS: Multiple regression analysis was used to …
A Race- and Gender-Specific Replication of Five Dimensions of Functional Limitation and Disability
Activity of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL) data from the 1989 National Long-Term Care Survey (NLTCS) are used to replicate two domains of functional status with a total of five dimensions among them. LISREL analysis of the 14,415 Black and White older adults obtained from the 1989 NLTCS screen replicates three ADL disability dimensions (basic, household, and advanced) with few modifications, except among Black males. Similarly, an…
The Structure of Health Status Among Hispanic, African American, and White Older Adults
Activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental ADLs, and disability markers have traditionally been the most common indicators of functional status. The study on Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) is used to replicate a five-dimensional measurement model composed of these observable indicators among the older adult self-respondents. The items available to measure upper body disability were found wanting, but the lower body di…
The Structure of Health Status Among Older Adults
This article builds on earlier conceptualizations of the structure of health status to propose a more complex, multiequation model that examines the interrelationships among its various dimensions. As such, the focus is not merely on the identification of the direct effects of a variety of factors on perceived health status, but on how the constructs of disease, functional limitation, and self-rated health interrelate. In so doing, we expose the …
The Structure of Health Status Among Hispanic, African American, and White Older Adults
Activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental ADLs, and disability markers have traditionally been the most common indicators of functional status. The study on Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) is used to replicate a five-dimensional measurement model composed of these observable indicators among the older adult self-respondents. The items available to measure upper body disability were found wanting, but the lower body di…
Predictors of Mobility and Basic ADL Difficulty among Adults Aged 70 Years and Older
We use data from the 1993-1995 Assets and Health Dynamics of the Oldest-Old survey to estimate predictors of onset of mobility difficulty, onset of basic activity of daily living (ADL) difficulty, and improvement to no mobility difficulty. Onset of mobility difficulty occurred among 20% of those with no difficulty at baseline (n = 2,857) and was most likely among those 85 years of age or over, women, those with a body-mass index of 30 or over, an…
Self-Rated Health Trajectories and Mortality Among Older Adults
Although measures of prior SRH trajectories did not have significant direct associations with mortality, they did have important indirect effects via their influence on current SRH
Age, Aging, and the Sense of Control Among Older Adults
Longitudinal studies with repeated assessments over prolonged observation periods are now needed to elucidate age-related trajectories in the sense of control
The effect of hip fracture on mortality, hospitalization, and functional status
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to prospectively assess the independent effect of hip fracture on mortalìty, hospitalization, and functional status. METHODS: Among 7527 members of the Longitudinal Study of Aging who were over age 70 at baseline, 368 persons with hip fracture occurring between 1984 and 1991 were identified. Median length of follow-up was 831 days. RESULTS: Hip fracture was significantly related to mortality (adjusted haz…
Changes in Physician Utilization Over Time among Older Adults
Although much is known from cross-sectional studies about the use of physician services among older adults, little is known about the consistency of or changes in that utilization over time. Hierarchical multivariable regression analysis of data on the 2,430 older adults who were enrolled in the LSOA and successfully reinterviewed in 1986, 1988, and 1990 is used to model changes in the number of physician visits between 1984 and 1990 based on the…
Expecting Sick-Role Legitimation and Getting It
Consistency and Change in Functional Status among Older Adults Over lime
Consistency and change between 1984 and the last reinterview (either two, four, or six years later) on 22 individual functional status markers and the five summary scales that they form are examined among the 5,986 members of the Longitudinal Study on Aging who were reinterviewed at least once. At baseline, at least three-fifths of the respondents are without limitations on any individual marker. At the last reinterview, at least 43.4% of the res…
Age and the Sense of Control among Older Adults
Older adults are expected and frequently found to report less control than younger adults. In this study, we decompose this negative relationship between age and sense of control using nested multivariable linear regression models that serially introduce sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic factors, health status, and subjective religiosity and religious beliefs in a sample of 1,051 older adults attending the general medicine clinics o…
Does Cognitive Training Improve Internal Locus of Control Among Older Adults
Cognitive training that targets reasoning and speed of processing can improve the cognitive-specific sense of personal control over one's life in older adults
Health-Related Quality of Life in Middle-Aged African Americans
The SF-36 is a reliable and valid measure of HRQoL for use with African Americans. In this sample, the HRQoL was below national averages. Future social epidemiologic studies should include grip strength, vision, and hearing assessments, which had substantial and consistent associations with the SF-36 scale scores
Hospital Utilization Profiles among Older Adults Over Time
Medicare claims data are used to model hospital utilization patterns for the 4,660 survivors and 2,867 decedents of the Longitudinal Study on Aging (LSOA). When the volume of hospital utilization was collapsed into four categories based on the mean annual number of hospital episodes and consistency was defined as a maximum absolute deviation from that mean of 1.5 or less, 42.6 percent of the LSOA respondents were found not to have any hospital ad…
A Cohort Analysis of the Use of Health Services by Elderly Americans
Fredric D. Wolinsky, Ray R. Mosely II, Rodney M. Coe, A Cohort Analysis of the Use of Health Services by Elderly Americans, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), pp. 209-219
Self-Rated Health
The decline in SRH levels among 49- to 65-year-old African Americans is comparable to that of Whites
Self-Rated Health and Adverse Health Outcomes
The relationship between poor self-rated health and adverse outcomes is not a simple reflection of unmeasured self-assessments of impending decline or doom. Rather, the effects of poor self-rated health and declining health trajectory appear to be independent and complementary
The Active Cognitive Training Interventions and the Onset of and Recovery from Suspected Clinical Depression
We evaluated the effects of the 3 cognitive interventions fielded in the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study on 2 subsets of participants-1,606 without and 424 with suspected clinical depression at baseline. In the former group, only the speed of processing (vs. no-contact control) intervention had a significant effect, with its participants being 38% less likely to develop suspected clinical depression at 1 year (…
Retirement and Weight Changes Among Men and Women in the Health and Retirement Study
Public health interventions may be indicated for women, particularly those working in blue-collar occupations, in order to prevent weight gain upon retirement
A Race- and Gender-Specific Replication of Five Dimensions of Functional Limitation and Disability
Activity of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL) data from the 1989 National Long-Term Care Survey (NLTCS) are used to replicate two domains of functional status with a total of five dimensions among them. LISREL analysis of the 14,415 Black and White older adults obtained from the 1989 NLTCS screen replicates three ADL disability dimensions (basic, household, and advanced) with few modifications, except among Black males. Similarly, an…
Salient issues in choosing a new doctor
Weight and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults
Weight gain did not lead to increased depressive symptoms, and weight loss preceded increased depressive symptoms only in unadjusted models among men (odds ratio [OR] = 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.53). Increased depressive symptoms were not predictive of subsequent weight loss, but they were predictive of subsequent weight gain in unadjusted models only (men: OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.00-1.54; women: OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.00-1.26). In…
The Effects of the Active Cognitive Training Trial on Clinically Relevant Declines in Health-Related Quality of Life
Although all three intervention arms improved cognitive ability, only the speed-of-processing arm protected against extensive clinically relevant decline in HRQoL
Use of Community-Based Long-Term Care Services by Older Adults
This study uses a previously validated model of disease, disability, functional limitations, and perceived health to predict the use of long-term care (LTC) services in and out of the home. The focus is on (a) the direct effects of the structure of health status on the use of LTC services, (b) how the use of LTC services differs by race and sex, and (c) how the use of LTC services varies by in-home and out-of-home location. The findings indicate …
Personal Stress, Mental Health, and Sense of Control Among Older Adults
Older adults more closely resembling those who died during 9-11 and those with greater levels of religiosity were most likely to have their sense of control affected by this catastrophic event
An Interpersonal Continuity of Care Measure for Medicare Part B Claims Analyses
Researchers can measure interpersonal continuity of care using Medicare Part B claims. Replication of these findings and further construct validation, however, are needed prior to widespread adoption of this method
Health Service Utilization and Attitudes Toward Health Maintenance Organization
Fredric D. Wolinsky, Health Service Utilization and Attitudes Toward Health Maintenance Organization: A Theoretical and Methodological Discussion, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sep., 1976), pp. 221-236
Social Class Origin and Academic Success Revisited
Toward Comprehensive Health Status Measures
While health, itself, is the central concept in the sociology of health, little agreement exists on what constitutes an appropriate definition of health. This paper develops two composite health status measures (one continuous summary measure, and one set of eight discrete health state measures) based on the World Health Organization's conceptualization of the physical, social, and psychological dimensions of health. Data from a 1978 regional sur…
Expecting Sick-Role Legitimation and Getting It
The Problems for Academic and Entrepreneurial Research in the Use of Health Services
Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the longitudinal stability of the structural relationships between the predisposing, enabling, and illness-morbidity characteristics of the population-at-risk and measures of health services utilization. The structural coefficients estimated from the 1971, 1972, and 1973 Health Interview Surveys were examined using the Relative Instability Ratio (RIR) presented in this paper. The RIR values indic…
Spending Time With Patients
This article assesses whether the amount of time that physicians spend overall, in the office, and in the hospital per patient visit depends upon the organizational structure of the physician's practice (i.e., does the physician practice in the fee-for-service system or in an HMO, and if in an HMO, in what type of an HMO). Data pooled from two national studies (N = 2.521) reveal several interesting patterns, including: 1) on all measures, solo ph…
Salient issues in choosing a new doctor
Assessing the Effects of the Physical, Psychological, and Social Dimensions of Health on the Use of Health Services
In this paper we examine two major assumptions inherent in the literature relating health status to the use of health services: (1) that each of the three dimensions of health (i.e., the physical, the psychological, and the social) has an equal impact on the use of health services; and (2) that the effects of these three dimensions of health are manifest in an additive rather than in an interactive fashion. To test these assumptions, multiple reg…
Waiting to See the Doctor The Impact of Organizational Structure on Medical Practice
In this article it is assessed whether or not the scheduling and office visit queues a patient faces depend upon the organizational structure of the physician's practice (i.e., does the physician practice in the fee-for-service system or in a health maintenance organization [HMO], and if in an HMO, in what type of an HMO). Data pooled from two national studies (N = 2448) reveal two major findings. First, although scheduling queues may be predicte…
Veterans?? and Nonveterans?? Use of Health Services
This study compares the use of health services by veterans with that by nonveterans; compares the use of health services by veterans from different service cohorts with each other; and examines the correlates of veterans' use of the VA health care delivery system. After adjusting for differences in the predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics, there were virtually no meaningful differences in the use of health services between veterans an…
Symptoms, Illness Behavior, and Help-seeking
The Use of Proxies in Health Surveys
It has traditionally been assumed that obtaining health and illness behavior data by proxy on household members who are not present during the actual interview presents no significant threats to the internal validity of subsequent analyses. Using data on the 78,439 adults interviewed in person or by proxy (about 37% of the total adult sample) as part of the 1978 Health Interview Survey, the authors examine whether the use of proxy respondents alt…
A Cohort Analysis of the Use of Health Services by Elderly Americans
Fredric D. Wolinsky, Ray R. Mosely II, Rodney M. Coe, A Cohort Analysis of the Use of Health Services by Elderly Americans, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), pp. 209-219
The Organization of Medical Practice and the Practice of Medicine
Length of Stay in the VA
From the Department of Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas †From the Department of Community Medicine, St. Louis University School of Medicine; Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Veterans Administration Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri ‡From the Department of Sociology, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois
Some Clarification About Health Planning in the VA
Wolinsky, Fredric D. PhD; Coe, Rodney M. PhD; Mosely, Ray R. II MA; Homan, Sharon M. PhD Author Information
The Organization of Medical Practice and the Practice of Medicine
Explaining the Declining Rate of Physician Utilization Among the Oldest-Old
This article reports the results of a regression-based cohort analysis of physician utilization rates among eight 4-year cohorts of elderly Americans over an 8-year period. Data on 99,445 noninstitutionalized individuals aged 56-95 were taken from the pooled 1972-73, 1976-77, and 1980-81 Health Interview Surveys. The parameters of the behavioral model of health services utilization were then estimated separately for each cohort within each pooled…
Organizational Structure and Hospital Work
A birth cohort analysis of dental contact among elderly Americans
We applied standard cohort and multiple regression techniques to data on the dental utilization rates of 129,191 elderly individuals taken from the 1972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1980, and 1981 Health Interview Surveys. The results indicate that the marked variation in dental contact rates is a reflection of cohort succession, and not a function of aging per se. Older cohorts having lower dental contact rates are being replaced by younger cohorts having…
Occupational Prestige in the Health Care Delivery System
Benigno E. Aguirre, Fredric D. Wolinsky, John Niederauer, Verna Keith, Lih-Jiuan Fann, Occupational Prestige in the Health Care Delivery System, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Sep., 1989), pp. 315-329
Insights, Clarification, and Missing the Mark
Fredric D. Wolinsky, Robert J. Johnson, Insights, Clarification, and Missing the Mark: A Response to Mechanic, Mortimer, and Hafferty, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 1990), pp. 307-312
The Legacy of Stress Research The Course and the Impact of This Journal
The Journal of Health and Social Behavior (JHSB) is examined to determine its relative stature and impact in the social science community. We conducted both empirical comparisons of average impact (based on the Social Science Citation Index) and content analysis. Over an 11-year period beginning in 1977, JHSB has maintained an enviable position among sociology journals, ranking significantly higher than the American Journal of Sociology and Socia…
The Use of Health Services by Older Adults
Using baseline data on the 5,151 respondents surveyed as part of the panel design of the Longitudinal Study on Aging (LSOA), this article estimates, cross-sectionally, the relationships hypothesized in the behavioral model of health services utilization. In addition to the traditional indicators of the predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics, the richness of the LSOA permits the inclusion of measures of multigenerational living arrangeme…
Perceived Health Status and Mortality Among Older Men and Women
This article separately examines the relationship of perceived health status and mortality for the 1,599 men and 2,904 women self-respondents in the Longitudinal Study on Aging. Using hierarchical logistic regression, the zero-order relationships are decomposed by the serial introduction of demographic, socioeconomic, health status, and psychosocial factors. For men, only those in poor health are significantly more likely to die than those in exc…
Medicine (83 works) · Psychology (53 works) · Gerontology (52 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (38 works) · Internal Medicine (28 works) · Demography (24 works) · Healthcare Policy and Management (24 works) · Demography (22 works) · Environmental health (22 works) · Population (21 works)