This study aims to analyze the relationship between socioeconomic factors and chronic diseases prevalence. The study consists of a representative sample of 16,180 adult men and women aged 20 ~ 64 who participated in the 2001 Seoul Citizens´ Health Interview Survey. This population-based cross-sectional survey data was used to investigate the effects of education, income and occupation on the prevalence of chronic diseases from all causes. To estimate the relative risk (odds ratio) of chronic diseases prevalence, a multiple logistic analysis was conducted.
For both men and women, the study shows that socioeconomic status(SES) is strongly related with risk of chronic diseases at all levels of the SES hierarchy, that is, lower education and income led to a significant increase in prevalence of chronic diseases.
After controlling for age, the odds ratio of chronic diseases for men was 2.05 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.64-2.61), for women 2.27 (95% CI, 1.89-2.72) among those with the lowest-educated group compared to the highest-educated group. When household income was considered, after controlling for age, the odds ratio of chronic diseases for men was 1.39 (95% CI 1.19-1.64), and for women 1.94 (95% CI 1.68-2.23) among those in the lowest-income group compared to the highest-income group.
This study identify that there exist a large socioeconomic inequalities in chronic diseases prevalence in Seoul Metropolitan area, including larger socioeconomic differences for women than men, and a strong effect for education than for income for both men and women. The study results are similar to previous studies on social inequalities in health status of developed countries.
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