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Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups

BACKGROUND: The magnitude of socioeconomic health inequalities differs across age groups. It is less clear whether socioeconomic health inequalities differ across age groups by other factors that are known to affect the relation between socioeconomic position and health, like the indicator of socioe...

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Autores principales: van Zon, Sander K. R., Bültmann, Ute, Mendes de Leon, Carlos F., Reijneveld, Sijmen A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696790/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26717482
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145947
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author van Zon, Sander K. R.
Bültmann, Ute
Mendes de Leon, Carlos F.
Reijneveld, Sijmen A.
author_facet van Zon, Sander K. R.
Bültmann, Ute
Mendes de Leon, Carlos F.
Reijneveld, Sijmen A.
author_sort van Zon, Sander K. R.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The magnitude of socioeconomic health inequalities differs across age groups. It is less clear whether socioeconomic health inequalities differ across age groups by other factors that are known to affect the relation between socioeconomic position and health, like the indicator of socioeconomic position, the health outcome, gender, and as to whether socioeconomic health inequalities are measured in absolute or in relative terms. The aim is to investigate whether absolute and relative socioeconomic health inequalities differ across age groups by indicator of socioeconomic position, health outcome and gender. METHODS: The study sample was derived from the baseline measurement of the LifeLines Cohort Study and consisted of 95,432 participants. Socioeconomic position was measured as educational level and household income. Physical and mental health were measured with the RAND-36. Age concerned eleven 5-years age groups. Absolute inequalities were examined by comparing means. Relative inequalities were examined by comparing Gini-coefficients. Analyses were performed for both health outcomes by both educational level and household income. Analyses were performed for all age groups, and stratified by gender. RESULTS: Absolute and relative socioeconomic health inequalities differed across age groups by indicator of socioeconomic position, health outcome, and gender. Absolute inequalities were most pronounced for mental health by household income. They were larger in younger than older age groups. Relative inequalities were most pronounced for physical health by educational level. Gini-coefficients were largest in young age groups and smallest in older age groups. CONCLUSIONS: Absolute and relative socioeconomic health inequalities differed cross-sectionally across age groups by indicator of socioeconomic position, health outcome and gender. Researchers should critically consider the implications of choosing a specific age group, in addition to the indicator of socioeconomic position and health outcome, as findings on socioeconomic health inequalities may differ between them.
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spelling pubmed-46967902016-01-13 Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups van Zon, Sander K. R. Bültmann, Ute Mendes de Leon, Carlos F. Reijneveld, Sijmen A. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The magnitude of socioeconomic health inequalities differs across age groups. It is less clear whether socioeconomic health inequalities differ across age groups by other factors that are known to affect the relation between socioeconomic position and health, like the indicator of socioeconomic position, the health outcome, gender, and as to whether socioeconomic health inequalities are measured in absolute or in relative terms. The aim is to investigate whether absolute and relative socioeconomic health inequalities differ across age groups by indicator of socioeconomic position, health outcome and gender. METHODS: The study sample was derived from the baseline measurement of the LifeLines Cohort Study and consisted of 95,432 participants. Socioeconomic position was measured as educational level and household income. Physical and mental health were measured with the RAND-36. Age concerned eleven 5-years age groups. Absolute inequalities were examined by comparing means. Relative inequalities were examined by comparing Gini-coefficients. Analyses were performed for both health outcomes by both educational level and household income. Analyses were performed for all age groups, and stratified by gender. RESULTS: Absolute and relative socioeconomic health inequalities differed across age groups by indicator of socioeconomic position, health outcome, and gender. Absolute inequalities were most pronounced for mental health by household income. They were larger in younger than older age groups. Relative inequalities were most pronounced for physical health by educational level. Gini-coefficients were largest in young age groups and smallest in older age groups. CONCLUSIONS: Absolute and relative socioeconomic health inequalities differed cross-sectionally across age groups by indicator of socioeconomic position, health outcome and gender. Researchers should critically consider the implications of choosing a specific age group, in addition to the indicator of socioeconomic position and health outcome, as findings on socioeconomic health inequalities may differ between them. Public Library of Science 2015-12-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4696790/ /pubmed/26717482 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145947 Text en © 2015 van Zon et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
van Zon, Sander K. R.
Bültmann, Ute
Mendes de Leon, Carlos F.
Reijneveld, Sijmen A.
Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups
title Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups
title_full Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups
title_fullStr Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups
title_full_unstemmed Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups
title_short Absolute and Relative Socioeconomic Health Inequalities across Age Groups
title_sort absolute and relative socioeconomic health inequalities across age groups
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696790/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26717482
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145947
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