Abstract
BackgroundKorea has achieved considerable economic growth more rapidly than most other countries, but disparities in income level have increased. Therefore, we sought to assess the association between income inequality and mortality across Korean cities.MethodsData on household income were obtained from the 2010-2012 Korean Community Health Survey and data on all-cause mortality and other covariates were obtained from the Korean Statistical Information Service. The Gini coefficient, Robin Hood index, and income share ratio between the 80th and 20th percentiles of the distribution were measured for each community. After excluding communities affected by changes in administrative districts between 2010 and 2012, a total of 157 communities and 172,398 urban residents were included in the analysis.ResultsWhen we graphed income inequality measures versus all-cause mortality as scatter plots, the R square values of the regression lines for GC, RHI, and 80/20 ratios relative to mortality were 0.230, 0.238, and 0.152, respectively. After adjusting for other covariates and median household income, mean all-cause mortality increased significantly with increasing GC (P for trend = 0.014) and RHI (P for trend = 0.031), and increased marginally with 80/20 ratio (P for trend = 0.067).ConclusionsOur data demonstrate that income inequality measures are significantly associated with all-cause mortality rate after adjustment for covariates, including median household income across urban communities in Korea.
Highlights
Korea has achieved considerable economic growth more rapidly than most other countries, but disparities in income level have increased
Others have investigated the effect of income inequality on health across regions within countries. Most of these studies have been conducted in developed countries such as the United States [7], Canada [8], the United Kingdom [9]
Sources of data Data on household income were from Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) and data on mortality rate and control variables in 2010–2012 were from Korean Statistical Information Service (KSIS)
Summary
Korea has achieved considerable economic growth more rapidly than most other countries, but disparities in income level have increased. Research so far suggests that does absolute income influence health but that the inequality of income distribution has an impact [4] While this association has been studied across a wide range of countries [5, 6], whether income data are comparable and complete across all samples remains in question [3]. Others have investigated the effect of income inequality on health across regions within countries Most of these studies have been conducted in developed countries such as the United States [7], Canada [8], the United Kingdom [9], Korea has achieved considerable economic growth more rapidly than most other countries, but disparities in income and education have increased, especially after the economic crisis in the late 1990s [13].
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