In the category of three health conditions in three separate organs, the differences in prevalence between low and high status 30-year-olds ranged up to 19 percentage points for women and 10 percentage points for men. (See Fact box.)
Occupations can have a direct effect on health, based on exposure to different physical and psychosocial work environments. Occupations often reflect a person's level of education and income, which can affect how they understand their own health and ability to self-manage several simultaneous diseases.
Vinjerui believes that people who work in the health care system need to become more aware of these health inequalities.
In prevalence studies, where social status and health status are measured simultaneously, we can't identify a clear causal relationship between them. But there are theories regarding how different measures of socioeconomic status and health are connected.
Lower socioeconomic status greatly increases the chances of co-occurring health problems. Credit: Shutterstock, NTB scanpix. People are living longer than ever. The average age of the population is increasing. Yet the number of people with multiple chronic health problems, called multimorbidity, is also growing.
This quiz and worksheet combo will gauge your understanding of the role of socioeconomic factors on health. For these assessments, you'll need to know the health effects of a higher or lower socioeconomic status.
Why does socioeconomic status impact health? You can find this and more out by watching the lesson entitled How Socioeconomic Issues Affect Health and Chronic Conditions. This lesson covers the following topics:
Aim: Socio-economic status is an important determinant of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and body mass index, but these associations are contradictory in younger children. We investigated the associations between parental socio-economic status, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and body mass index in six-year-old children, ...
Children from families with low socio-economic status were more physically active and slightly less sedentary, but were almost twice as likely to be overweight or obese than children from high socio-economic status, irrespective of the child's sex. Conclusion: Low socio-economic status was associated with higher physical activity, ...
Aim: Socio-economic status is an important determinant of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and body mass index, but these associations are contradictory in younger children. We investigated the associations between parental socio-economic status, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and body mass index in six-year-old children, ...
Children from families with low socio-economic status were more physically active and slightly less sedentary, but were almost twice as likely to be overweight or obese than children from high socio-economic status, irrespective of the child's sex. Conclusion: Low socio-economic status was associated with higher physical activity, ...