Objectives: This study estimated and compared the prevalence of disability and institutionalization in 1982, 1984, and 1989 among the older Black and White populations of the United States.

Methods: Data on over 1100 Blacks and 14,000 Whites in each of a series of three National Long Term Care Surveys were used.

Results: Diverging trends for Blacks and Whites led to statistically significant increases in the age- and sex-adjusted odds of disability (19%) and institutionalization (31%) for Blacks relative to Whites.

Conclusions: Black and White disparities in disability appear to have widened, while disparities in institutionalization appear to have narrowed during the decade of the 1980s.