ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2001
The socioeconomic status of older adults: how should we measure it in studies of health inequalities?
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 168 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
168 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Inequalities in the progress of multiple chronic conditions: A systematic review of longitudinal studies.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Assessing demographic access to hip replacement surgery in the United Kingdom: a systematic review.International journal for equity in health · 2021Pooled it
- Socioeconomic position and use of healthcare in the last year of life: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Physical activity and transitioning to retirement: a systematic review.American journal of preventive medicine · 2012Pooled it
- Neighborhood environment in studies of health of older adults: a systematic review.American journal of preventive medicine · 2009Pooled it
- Impact of Educational Attainment on Health Outcomes in Moderate to Severe CKD.American journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Socioeconomic inequalities in functional ageing trajectories in England and Canada: A comparative longitudinal cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic differences in older adults' intention to use mhealth applications.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Determinants of old age disability in Botswana: an empirical investigation using generalized linear models.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- The association between continuing work after retirement and the incidence of frailty: evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2024Article
- Exploring the relationship between telehealth utilization and treatment burden among patients with chronic conditions: A cross-sectional study in Ontario, Canada.PLOS digital health · 2024Article
- The Neurobiology of Life Course Socioeconomic Conditions and Associated Cognitive Performance in Middle to Late Adulthood.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Service delivery inaccessibility as a predictor of teenage pregnancy in South Africa.African health sciences · 2023Article
- Quantifying structural racism in cohort studies to advance prospective evidence.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Educational differences in long-term care use in Sweden during the last two years of life.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2023Article
- Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles Alone Might Not Substantially Reduce Socioeconomic Inequity-Related Mortality Risk in Older People in China: A Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2023Article
- The association between socioeconomic position and the symptoms and concerns of hospital inpatients seen by specialist palliative care: Analysis of routinely collected patient data.Palliative medicine · 2023Article
- Associations between Body Mass Index and Probable Sarcopenia in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Housing tenure and disability in the UK: trends and projections 2004-2030.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
108 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectiveTo identify which of seven indicators of socioeconomic status used singly or combined with one other would be most useful in studies of health inequalities in the older population.
designSecondary analysis of socioeconomic and health data in a two wave survey.
settingGreat Britain. Participants were interviewed at home by a trained interviewer.
participantsNationally representative sample of 3543 adults aged 55-69 interviewed in 1988/9, 2243 of whom were interviewed again in 1994.
methodsDesirable features of socioeconomic measurement systems for identifying health inequalities in older populations were identified with reference to the literature. Logistic regression was used to examine variations in self reported health by seven indicators of socioeconomic status. The pair of indicators with the greatest explanatory power was identified. MAIN
resultsAll indicators were significantly associated with differences in self reported health. The best pair of variables, according to criteria used, was educational qualification or social class paired with a deprivation indicator. DISCUSSION: For a range of reasons the measurement of socioeconomic status is particularly challenging in older age groups. Extending our knowledge of which indicators work well in analyses and are relatively easy to collect should help both further study of health inequalities in the older population and appropriate planning.
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