Abstract
We aimed to verify the association between different socioeconomic indicators and self-rated health in a nationally representative sample of older adults. This cross-sectional study analyzed the baseline data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), a population-based cohort study of persons aged 50 years or older. Data was collected using a household and an individual questionnaire at participants' households. Self-rated health was assessed by a global self-rating item. Three socioeconomic indicators were assessed: individual income, per capita household income, and wealth index. Poisson regression models were performed to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of self-rated health and each socioeconomic indicator, adjusting for covariates. In total, 9,390 older adults answered the outcome question. Whilst for the individual income indicator only the richest quintile showed a statistically significant association with the outcome (PR: 0.90; 95%CI: 0.87; 0.93), for the per capita household income, the fourth (PR: 0.95; 95%CI: 0.91; 0.98) and the fifth quintiles (PR: 0.90; 95%CI: 0.86; 0.94) remained associated with the outcome. Regarding the wealth index, only the second quintile was not associated with the outcome, with lower prevalence of poor self-rated health as richer was the quintile, showing a social gradient. The wealth index seems to be a more adequate indicator, as it reflects resources accumulated over the life course.
Highlights
Health surveys are the most common and useful type of study used to assess public health policies aimed at improving equity, which require the measurement and interpretation of health inequalities 1
The literature on this topic examines the distribution of health by different socioeconomic position, investigating the degree to which persons at lower socioeconomic position are more likely to present worse health outcomes 2
This study aimed to verify the association between different socioeconomic indicators and self-rated health in a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling Brazilian older adults
Summary
Health surveys are the most common and useful type of study used to assess public health policies aimed at improving equity, which require the measurement and interpretation of health inequalities 1 The literature on this topic examines the distribution of health by different socioeconomic position, investigating the degree to which persons at lower socioeconomic position are more likely to present worse health outcomes 2. Individual’s interpretation of their own health comprises an integrated perception including biological, psychosocial, and social dimensions, being strongly influenced by socioeconomic factors 7. This association has been already demonstrated in previous studies with older adults in Brazil 8
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