J Korean Med Assoc.  2013 Mar;56(3):175-183. 10.5124/jkma.2013.56.3.175.

Socioeconomic inequalities in health risk factors in Korea

• Kim YM
• Jung-Choi

• KMID: 2064822
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2013.56.3.175

Abstract

Tackling socioeconomic inequalities in health risk factors is an important pathway for alleviating health inequalities. The aim of this study was to analyze the current state of inequality in health risk factors by socioeconomic status in Korea through a literature review of recently published studies and description of secondary data from the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (KNHANES). We evaluated the extent and trends of socioeconomic inequalities in health behavior (smoking, high-risk alcohol drinking, moderate exercise, and nutritional deficiency) and clinical risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity) with 1998 to 2010 KNHANES data based on socio-economic status. Furthermore, we summarized the impact of several distal health determinants like income, education and occupation, and childhood period on health inequalities in Korea. The results showed that a wide range of health risk factors including more distal causes were socio-economically patterned to varying degrees. In order to reduce health inequalities by socioeconomic status, more comprehensive monitoring and measures, and well-designed studies are required for promoting the understanding of the causal pathway and developing interventional strategies.

Keyword

Health behavior; Risk factors; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic inequality

MeSH Terms

Alcohol Drinking
Diabetes Mellitus
Health Behavior
Hypercholesterolemia
Korea
Occupations
Risk Factors
Social Class
Socioeconomic Factors

Figure

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  Figure 1 Socioeconomic health determinants and study concept.

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  Figure 2 Trend of current smoking, high risk drinking, moderate exercise and nutritional deficiency across household income level, 1998 to 2010. Population over 19 years old of Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey except older than 1 year old for nutritional deficiency. (A) Current smoking, (B) high risk drinking, (C) moderate exercise, and (D) nutritional deficiency.

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  Figure 3 Trend of hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and obesity across household income level, 1998 to 2010. Population over 30 years old of Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey except older than 19 years old for obesity. (A) Hypertension, (B) diabetes melitus, (C) hypercholesterolemia, and (D) obesity.

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