Document Detail


Measuring socioeconomic differences in use of health care services by wealth versus by income.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19150899     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVES: We compared the extent of socioeconomic differences in use of health care services based on wealth (i.e., accumulated assets) as the socioeconomic ranking variable with the extent of differences based on income to explore the sensitivity of the estimates of equity to the choice of the socioeconomic indicator.
METHODS: We used data from the Health and Retirement Study in the United States and the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe to estimate levels of income- and wealth-related disparity in use of physician and dental services among adults 50 or older in 12 countries.
RESULTS: We found socioeconomic differences in use of physician services after standardizing for need in about half of the countries studied. No consistent pattern in levels of disparity measured by wealth versus those measured by income was found. However, the rich were significantly more likely to use dental services in all countries. Wealth-related differences in dental service use were consistently higher than were income-related differences.
CONCLUSIONS: We found some support for wealth as a more sensitive indicator of socioeconomic status among older adults than was income. Wealth may thus allow more accurate measurements of socioeconomic differences in use of health care services for this population.
Authors:
Sara Allin; Cristina Masseria; Elias Mossialos
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2009-01-15
Journal Detail:
Title:  American journal of public health     Volume:  99     ISSN:  1541-0048     ISO Abbreviation:  Am J Public Health     Publication Date:  2009 Oct 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-09-11     Completed Date:  2009-10-06     Revised Date:  2012-05-07    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  1254074     Medline TA:  Am J Public Health     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1849-55     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
LSE Health, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, England. e.a.mossialos@lse.ac.uk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Data Collection
Europe
Female
Great Britain
Health Services / economics*,  statistics & numerical data
Health Services Accessibility
Health Status Disparities*
Humans
Income / statistics & numerical data*
Male
Middle Aged
Odds Ratio
Pensions / statistics & numerical data
Retirement / statistics & numerical data
Socioeconomic Factors
Statistics as Topic
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
P01 AG005842/AG/NIA NIH HHS; P01 AG08291/AG/NIA NIH HHS; P30 AG12815/AG/NIA NIH HHS; R21 AG025169/AG/NIA NIH HHS; U01 AG09740-13S2/AG/NIA NIH HHS; Y1-AG-4553-01/AG/NIA NIH HHS
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