Abstract
Oldest-old women are known to live at the intersection of multiple socioeconomic disadvantages in South Korean society. This study classified oldest-old Korean women into several socioeconomically homogeneous classes based on various socioeconomic status (SES) risks and compared health characteristics among the identified classes. This cross-sectional study utilized the 2019 Korean Community Health Survey, including data from 11,053 women (≥80 years). Latent class analysis determined the number of underlying socioeconomic classes based on nine selected SES variables. Four distinct socioeconomic classes were identified: “Urban, living alone, recipient of NBLSS, moderate education, leisure activity” (Class 1), “Rural, traditional house, living with others, not financially deprived, low education, employed” (Class 2), “Urban, living with family, financially affluent, not employed, no barriers to healthcare” (Class 3), “Rural, traditional house, living alone, financially deprived, uneducated, employed, barriers to healthcare” (Class 4). Depressive symptoms, subjective stress, and the prevalence of sleep disorder and diabetes were higher in Class 1 compared to other classes. Health-related quality of life, perceived health, and self-rated oral health were the poorest in Class 4. Class 3 reported the best health status. Understanding the intersecting SES risk factors in this group can aid in developing targeted interventions.
Highlights
Socioeconomic status (SES) is a major determinant of health in late life
The entropy was superior in models with fewer classes, the fit indices—including the Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion (BIC), SABIC, and log-likelihood—had markedly lower values for the 4-class solution than for the 2-class and 3-class solutions
Four distinct socioeconomic classes among Korean oldest-old women were identified with several satisfactory fit indices using latent class analysis (LCA)—“Urban, living alone, recipient of NBLSS, moderate education, leisure activity” (Class 1), “Rural, traditional house, living with others, not financially deprived, low education, employed”
Summary
Socioeconomic status (SES) is a major determinant of health in late life. Especially inSouth Korea (hereafter “Korea”), with a rapidly aging population, there has been growing research interest in examining the influence of SES on the health of older adults [1]. Some older adult studies that have examined the connection between income and health outcomes found no relationship [2,3], or associations in some groups only, for example, in women [4]. Area-based studies demonstrate that the socioeconomic conditions of localities affect older adults’ health in addition to individual conditions [6,7]. Other socioeconomic issues such as employment, education, housing, segregation, and mobility can make a difference in the health status of older adults [8]. This underscores the theory of intersectionality, which acknowledges that various socially constructed categories of differences interact to contribute to health disparities [9]
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