Gender inequality in health among elderly people in a combined framework of socioeconomic position, family characteristics and social support

Abstract

This study analyses gender inequalities in health among elderly people in Catalonia (Spain) by adopting a conceptual framework that globally considers three dimensions of health determinants : socio-economic position, family characteristics and social support. Data came from the 2006 Catalonian Health Survey. For the purposes of this study a sub-sample of people aged 65-85 years with no paid job was selected (1,113 men and 1,484 women). The health outcomes analysed were self-perceived health status, poor mental health status and long-standing limiting illness. Multiple logistic regression models separated by sex were fitted and a hierarchical model was fitted in three steps. Health status among elderly women was poorer than among the men for the three outcomes analysed. Whereas living with disabled people was positively related to the three health outcomes and confidant social support was negatively associated with all of them in both sexes, there were gender differences in other social determinants of health. Our results emphasise the importance of using an integrated approach for the analysis of health inequalities among elderly people, simultaneously considering socio-economic position, family characteristics and social support, as well as different health indicators, in order fully to understand the social determinants of the health status of older men and women.

Psychological Health of Older Women in Hong Kong: Do Demographic Characteristics Make a Difference?

“…Educated women (albeit primary education) have a different psychological health status, compared with older women who receive no schooling. The present findings are consistent with a study on the elderly, which used Limiting Long-standing Illness (LLI) as a health indicator (8). This study was conducted in Spain and the researchers reported the following: "Low educational attainment was not significantly associated with LLI among men, whilst a positive relationship with a gradient was found for women."…”

“…Older women in Singapore also had a poorer health status (self-reported health, chronic illness, and functional disability) in comparison with older men (14). Apparently, gender inequalities in health among the elderly in Asia are similar to Western countries, eg, Sweden, Spain, and Italy (7,8,15).…”

“…Also, older women experience significantly more health problems than older men (7)(8)(9). Therefore, it is necessary to determine if such health inequalities exist among the elderly in Hong Kong.…”

Health disparities in Europe’s ageing population: the role of social network

“…Research on the social determinants of health among older people has only recently started integrating different approaches that previously tended to be studied separately: socioeconomic position, family characteristics, and social support [25]. The study’s overall aim is to assess the interplay between social network satisfaction, socioeconomic position, and SRH among elderly men and women in European countries with different welfare regimes.…”

The Relationship between Dimensions of Health Related Quality of Life and Health Conditions among Elderly People: A Fuzzy Linear Regression Approach

“…Chia et al (2004) investigated the impact of visual impairment on HRQoL in an older population. There was also a study conducted by Rueda and Artazcoz (2009) where gender inequalities of health status among elderly people were measured. Relationships between elder people and income were studied by Huguet, et al (2008).…”