Indicators of socioeconomic position (part 1)
01 Jan 2006-Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (BMJ Publishing Group)-Vol. 60, Iss: 1, pp 7-12
TL;DR: This glossary presents a comprehensive list of indicators of socioeconomic position used in health research, with a description of what they intend to measure and how data are elicited and the advantages and limitation of the indicators.
Abstract: This glossary presents a comprehensive list of indicators of socioeconomic position used in health research. A description of what they intend to measure is given together with how data are elicited and the advantages and limitation of the indicators. The glossary is divided into two parts for journal publication but the intention is that it should be used as one piece. The second part highlights a life course approach and will be published in the next issue of the journal.
Citations
More filters
Journal Article•
[...]
TL;DR: 1. Place animal in induction chamber and anesthetize the mouse and ensure sedation, move it to a nose cone for hair removal using cream and reduce anesthesia to maintain proper heart rate.
Abstract: 1. Place animal in induction chamber and anesthetize the mouse and ensure sedation. 2. Once the animal is sedated, move it to a nose cone for hair removal using cream. Only apply cream to the area of the chest that will be utilized for imaging. Once the hair is removed, wipe area with wet gauze to ensure all hair is removed. 3. Move the animal to the imaging platform and tape its paws to the ECG lead plates and insert rectal probe. Body temperature should be maintained at 36-37°C. During imaging, reduce anesthesia to maintain proper heart rate. If the animal shows signs of being awake, use a higher concentration of anesthetic.
1,557 citations
TL;DR: To tackle the high prevalence of smoking among disadvantaged groups, a combination of tobacco control measures is required, and these should be delivered in conjunction with wider attempts to address inequalities in health.
Abstract: Smoking prevalence is higher among disadvantaged groups, and disadvantaged smokers may face higher exposure to tobacco's harms. Uptake may also be higher among those with low socioeconomic status (SES), and quit attempts are less likely to be successful. Studies have suggested that this may be the result of reduced social support for quitting, low motivation to quit, stronger addiction to tobacco, increased likelihood of not completing courses of pharmacotherapy or behavioral support sessions, psychological differences such as lack of self-efficacy, and tobacco industry marketing. Evidence of interventions that work among lower socioeconomic groups is sparse. Raising the price of tobacco products appears to be the tobacco control intervention with the most potential to reduce health inequalities from tobacco. Targeted cessation programs and mass media interventions can also contribute to reducing inequalities. To tackle the high prevalence of smoking among disadvantaged groups, a combination of tobacco control measures is required, and these should be delivered in conjunction with wider attempts to address inequalities in health.
1,190 citations
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich1, Uppsala University2, Tel Aviv University3, Oregon State University4, Medical University Plovdiv5, Wageningen University and Research Centre6, Pompeu Fabra University7, University of British Columbia8, Technische Universität München9, University of Edinburgh10, University of Wollongong11
TL;DR: In this article, potential pathways linking greenspace to health are presented in three domains, which emphasize three general functions of greenspace: reducing harm (e.g., reducing exposure to air pollution, noise and heat), restoring capacities (i.e., attention restoration and physiological stress recovery), and encouraging physical activity and facilitating social cohesion). Interrelations between among the three domains are also noted.
1,187 citations
Cites background from "Indicators of socioeconomic positio..."
...…deprivation indices for area-level SES (Fairburn, Maier and Braubach, 2016), education, occupation and income domains for individual-level SES (Galobardes et al., 2006), population density and degree of sealed soil for defining urban/semi-urban/rural areas (van Dijk and van der Valk, 2007),…...
[...]
...Such metrics could include deprivation indices for area-level SES (Fairburn, Maier and Braubach, 2016), education, occupation and income domains for individual-level SES (Galobardes et al., 2006), population density and degree of sealed soil for defining urban/semi-urban/rural areas (van Dijk and van der Valk, 2007), public transport availability, and finally, age categorizations according to potential differential uses of greenspace....
[...]
TL;DR: The risk of getting type 2 diabetes was associated with low SEP in high-, middle- and low- income countries and overall, and the strength of the associations was consistent in high-income countries, whereas there is a strong need for further investigation in middle-and low- Income countries.
Abstract: Background We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis, the first to our knowledge, summarizing and quantifying the published evidence on associations between type 2 diabetes incidence and s ...
736 citations
TL;DR: It is proposed that there is a greater variation in the association between SEP and health than is generally acknowledged when specific health outcomes are investigated and that studying these variations provide a better understanding of the aetiological mechanisms relating specific diseases with specific exposures.
Abstract: Objective: In this article we review different measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) and their uses in health-related research. Areas of agreement: Socioeconomic circumstances influence health. Areas of controversy: Generally, poorer socioeconomic circumstances lead to poorer health. This has generated a search for generic mechanisms that could explain such a general association. However, we propose that there is a greater variation in the association between SEP and health than is generally acknowledged when specific health outcomes are investigated. We propose that studying these variations provide a better understanding of the aetiological mechanisms relating specific diseases with specific exposures. Areas to develop research: Using different indicators of SEP in health research can better capture these variations and is important when evaluating the full contribution of confounding by socioeconomic conditions. We propose that using an array of SEP indicators within a life course framework also offers considerable opportunity to explore causal pathways in disease aetiology.
667 citations
References
More filters
Posted Content•
TL;DR: This work estimates the relationship between household wealth and children’s school enrollment in India by constructing a linear index from asset ownership indicators, using principal-components analysis to derive weights, and shows that this index is robust to the assets included, and produces internally coherent results.
Abstract: The relationship between household wealth and educational enrollment of children can be estimated without expenditure data. A method for doing so - which uses an index based on household asset ownership indicators - is proposed and defended in this paper. In India, children from the wealthiest households are over 30 percentage points more likely to be in school than those from the poorest households, although this gap varies considerably across states. To estimate the relationship between household wealth and the probability that a child (aged 6 to 14) is enrolled in school, Filmer and Pritchett use National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data collected in Indian states in 1992 and 1993. In developing their estimate Filmer and Pritchett had to overcome a methodological difficulty: The NFHS, modeled closely on the Demographic and Health Surveys, measures neither household income nor consumption expenditures. As a proxy for long-run household wealth, they constructed a linear asset index from a set of asset indicators, using principal components analysis to derive the weights. This asset index is robust, produces internally coherent results, and provides a close correspondence with data on state domestic product and on state level poverty rates. They validate the asset index using data on consumption spending and asset ownership from Indonesia, Nepal, and Pakistan. The asset index has reasonable coherence with current consumption expenditures and, more importantly, works as well as - or better than - traditional expenditure-based measures in predicting enrollment status. The authors find that on average a child from a wealthy household (in the top 20 percent on the asset index developed for this analysis) is 31 percent more likely to be enrolled in school than a child from a poor household (in the bottom 40 percent). This paper - a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to inform educational policy. The study was funded by the Bank`s Research Support Budget under the research project Educational Enrollment and Dropout (RPO 682-11).
4,966 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for estimating the effect of household economic status on educational outcomes without direct survey information on income or expenditures is proposed and defended, which uses an index based on household asset ownership indicators.
Abstract: This paper has an empirical and overtly methodological goal. The authors propose and defend a method for estimating the effect of household economic status on educational outcomes without direct survey information on income or expenditures. They construct an index based on indicators of household assets, solving the vexing problem of choosing the appropriate weights by allowing them to be determined by the statistical procedure of principal components. While the data for India cannot be used to compare alternative approaches they use data from Indonesia, Nepal, and Pakistan which have both expenditures and asset variables for the same households. With these data the authors show that not only is there a correspondence between a classification of households based on the asset index and consumption expenditures but also that the evidence is consistent with the asset index being a better proxy for predicting enrollments--apparently less subject to measurement error for this purpose--than consumption expenditures. The relationship between household wealth and educational enrollment of children can be estimated without expenditure data. A method for doing so - which uses an index based on household asset ownership indicators- is proposed and defended in this paper. In India, children from the wealthiest households are over 30 percentage points more likely to be in school than those from the poorest households.
4,661 citations
TL;DR: There was an inverse association between employment grade and prevalence of angina, electrocardiogram evidence of ischaemia, and symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and self-perceived health status and symptoms were worse in subjects in lower status jobs.
3,492 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that social factors such as socioeconomic status and social support are likely 'fundamental causes" of disease that affect multiple disease outcomes through multiple mechanisms, and consequently maintain an association with disease even when intervening mechanisms change.
Abstract: Over the last several decades, epidemiological studies have been enormously
successful in identifying risk factors for major diseases However, most of this
research has focused attention on risk factors that are relatively proximal causes of
disease such as diet, cholesterol level, exercise and the like We question the
emphasis on such individually-based risk factors and argue that greater attention
must be paid to basic social conditions if health reform is to have its maximum
effect in the time ahead There are two reasons for this claim First we argue that
individually-based risk factors must be contextualized, by examining what puts
people at risk of risks, if we are to craft effective interventions and improve the
nation's health Second, we argue that social factors such as socioeconomic status
and social support are likely 'fundamental causes" of disease that, because they
embody access to important resources, affect multiple disease outcomes throughmultiple mechanisms, and consequently maintain an association with disease even when intervening mechanisms change Without careful attention to these
possibilities, we run the risk of imposing individually-based intervention strategies
that are ineffective and of missing opportunities to adopt broad-based societal
interventions that could produce substantial health benefits for our citizens
3,483 citations
3,277 citations