• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제51권5호
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• pp.219-226
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• 2018

Objectives: This study aimed to explain the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) gap between the poorest and the wealthiest quintiles in the capitals of Kermanshah and Kurdistan Provinces (Kermanshah and Sanandaj), in western Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 1772 adults. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status (SES), lifestyle factors, body mass index, and HRQoL of participants were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The slope and relative indices of inequality (SII and RII, respectively) were employed to examine socioeconomic inequality in poor HRQoL. Blinder-Oaxaca (BO) decomposition was used to quantify the contribution of explanatory variables to the gap in the prevalence of poor HRQoL between the wealthiest and the poorest groups. Results: The overall crude and age-adjusted prevalence of poor HRQoL among adults was 32.0 and 41.8%, respectively. The SII and RII indicated that poor HRQoL was mainly concentrated among individuals with lower SES. The absolute difference (%) in the prevalence of poor HRQoL between the highest and lowest SES groups was 28.4. The BO results indicated that 49.9% of the difference was explained by different distributions of age, smoking behavior, physical inactivity, chronic health conditions, and obesity between the highest and lowest SES groups, while the remaining half of the gap was explained by the response effect. Conclusions: We observed a pro-rich distribution of poor HRQoL among adults in the capitals of Kermanshah and Kurdistan Provinces. Policies and strategies aimed at preventing and reducing smoking, physical inactivity, chronic health conditions, and obesity among the poor may reduce the gap in poor HRQoL between the highest and lowest SES groups in Iran.

• 한국학교보건학회지
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.63-75
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• 2007

Purpose: With economic development and prolonged longevity, the level of health and health disparities have became growing concerns for individual and society as well. Since youth's health status are influenced by households' socioeconomic status and associated with heath status in later stage of life, assessing health inequality in the youth is a significant step toward lessening health disparity and promoting health. We measured health inequality in high school students and decomposed it into health factors. Methods: The subjects included 3,787 high school students of 12th graders from the Korea Education and Employment Panel (KEEP) in 2004. True health status was assumed as a latent variable and estimated by ordered logistic regression model. The predicted health was used as a measure of individual health after rPSraling to [0,1] interval. Total health inequality was then measured by Gini coefficient and was decomposed into health factors. Results: Health inequality in high school students was observed. Of total health inequality, 44% was explained by biological factors such as body mass index (BMI) (32.5%) and gender (13.5%). Behavioral factors such as smoking, drinking, physical activity, hours in bed and hours of computer ussge added to 11.7%. Household income and work experiences explained 5.6% and 8.8%, respectively. School satisfaction explained 14.6%. Other school related factors such as self-assessed achievement and experience of being bullied accounted for 15.5%. Conclusion: Among the health factors, biological factor was the most important contributor in health disparity. Other factors such as health behaviors, socioeconomic factors, school satisfaction and school related factors exhibited somewhat similar magnitude. For policy purposes, it is recommended to look into modifiable factors depending BM, gender and school surroundings.

• 보건교육건강증진학회지
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.57-67
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• 2011

Objectives: This study gathered basic information for the development of a health promotion policy for employees and the selection of participants for health education by identifying the impact of socioeconomic status and health behavior on the health status of males and females. Methods: The 2008 National Health Nutrition and Examination Survey data were used to examine relationships between socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and health status of male and female employees. For the analysis, the $X^2$ test and logistic regression were used. Results: Heath behaviors had a very slight impact of the association between socioeconomic status and health status among male and female employees. And patterns of health inequality had the gender difference. Conclusions: When developing a health promotion policy for employees, and selecting health education subjects, it is necessary to consider both socioeconomic status and gender.

• 보건교육건강증진학회지
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• 제32권5호
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• pp.43-51
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• 2015

Objectives: Socioeconomic factors are one of the significant factors explaining drinking problems in our society. From the poverty and inequality perspective, not only absolute poverty but perceived level of poverty or inequality has a direct effect on one's health and health behaviors. The purpose of the study is to explore the growth trajectories of problem drinking in Korea in relation to poverty and perceived income. Methods: Data from 13,414 adults were analyzed using 4 years of data (2010 to 2014) from the Korea Welfare Panel. Main variables included poverty status, perceived income inequality, and problem drinking. A latent growth modeling was employed for the analysis. Results: The non-poverty group had higher initial level of problem drinking; however, the poverty group showed higher rate of increase in problem drinking rate. The perceived income inequality had no significant influence on the initial level, but over time, those with higher level of perceived income inequality showed higher rate of increase in problem drinking. Conclusions: Findings showed that poverty and inequality affect changes in problem drinking. Efforts to prevent and decrease problems related to alcohol should not only focus on changing individuals' behavior but also on decreasing the inequality gap.

• 지역연구
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.3-16
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• 2020

도시 내 공간적 불평등은 꾸준한 관심을 받고 있는 연구주제다. 그러나 공간적 불평등이 주민에게 미치는 세부적인 영향과 공간적 불평등이 지속되고 재생산되는 방식에 대한 실증연구는 제한적이다. 본 연구는 공간적 수준에서의 박탈을 나타내는 개념인 지역박탈이 주민의 계층상승 가능성에 대한 인식에 미치는 영향을 확인하고자 하였다. 2015년 서울서베이 자료를 순서형 로지스틱 다층모형을 활용하여 분석한 결과, 지역박탈 수준이 높은 지역에 거주하는 주민일수록 자신의 계층상승 가능성을 부정적으로 인식하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구결과는 지역박탈이 주민의 계층상승에 대한 믿음을 저해함으로써 삶의 만족도와 기회 실현을 저해하는 것은 물론 지역 격차가 지속되는 데에 영향을 미칠 수 있음을 시사한다. 이와 같은 분석결과는 공간적 불평등을 해소하기 위한 도시정책에 함의를 제공할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제50권5호
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• pp.303-310
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• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of dental caries among an urban population. Methods: This study was conducted among 2000 people 15-40 years of age living in Kurdistan, Iran in 2015. Using a questionnaire, data were collected by 4 trained dental students. The dependent variable was the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMF) index. Using principal component analysis, the socioeconomic status (SES) of families was determined based on their household assets. Inequality was measured using the concentration index; in addition, the Oaxaca analytical method was used to determine the contribution of various determinants to the observed inequality. Results: The concentration index for poor scores on the DMF index was -0.32 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.40 to -0.36); thus, poor DMF indices had a greater concentration in groups with a low SES (p<0.001). Decomposition analysis showed that the mean prevalence of a poor DMF index was 43.7% (95% CI, 40.4 to 46.9%) in the least privileged group and 14.4% (95% CI, 9.5 to 9.2%) in the most privileged group. It was found that 85.8% of the gap observed between these groups was due to differences in sex, parents' education, and the district of residence. A poor DMF index was less prevalent among people with higher SES than among those with lower SES (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.52). Conclusions: An alarming degree of SES inequality in oral health status was found in the studied community. Hence, it is suggested that inequalities in oral health status be reduced via adopting appropriate policies such as the delivery of oral health services to poorer groups and covering such services in insurance programs.

• 보건교육건강증진학회지
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.61-70
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• 2016

Objectives: It has been well documented that people on the lower socioeconomic position are significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes. The purposes of this study were (a) to identify a potential difference of socioeconomic factors, and (b) to compare a smoking rate, one of the most representative health behavior between people with/without disabilities after the controlling socioeconomic factors. Methods: The Korea Panel Survey of Employment for People of Disabilities (2012) and the Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (2012) were employed for calculating the smoking rates of persons with/without disabilities. Results: The results demonstrated that the socioeconomic position indicators (education, occupation and household equivalent income) of persons with disabilities were lower than persons without disabilities. The smoking rates of the persons with/without disabilities were 35.9% and 19.0% respectively before propensity score matching. After propensity score matching with the socioeconomic factors, however, ATT of people with disabilities was 0.201 which is lower than ATT of people without disabilities (0.227). Conclusions: Our findings indicated that the socioeconomic level of persons with disabilities is important to improve the smoking rates and health level regardless of their disabilities.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제40권6호
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• pp.431-438
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• 2007

Objectives : The aim of this study is to summarize the current conditions and implications of health inequalities in South Korea. Methods : Through a literature review of empirical studies and supplementary analysis of the data presented in the 1998, 2001, and 2005 KNHANEs, we evaluated the extent and trends of socioeconomic inequalities in both health risk factors, such as smoking, physical activity, and obesity, and outcomes, such as total mortality, subjective poor health status by self-reports and metabolic syndrome. Relative risks and odds ratios were used to measure differences across socioeconomic groups, and the relative index of inequality was used to evaluate the changes in inequalities over time. Results : We found clear inequalities to various degrees?in most health indicators. While little change was observed in mortality differences over time, the socioeconomic gaps in risk factors and morbidity have been widening, with much larger differences among the younger population. Conclusions : Socioeconomic inequalities are pervasive across various health indicators, and some of them are increasing. The trends in socioeconomic inequalities in health should be carefully monitored, and comprehensive measures to alleviate health inequalities are needed, especially for young populations.

• 한국치위생학회지
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.565-575
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• 2019

Objectives: In this study, both subjective and objective levels of oral health were used to identify the relationship between oral health inequalities. Methods: Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey data from 2013 to 2015 were combined to create an analysis plan. Oral health questions categorized as subjective oral health conditions and oral health-related diseases used dental tissue disease status as data measured by the Community Periodical Index(CPI) and decayed, missing, filled teeth(DMFT) experience. Other data on oral health behaviors such as toothache experience, the frequency of toothbrush use, chewing problems, oral examination status, and unmet dental care needs were classified and analyzed according to the socioeconomic level. Data were analyzed using frequency and cross analyses, and the statistical significance level was set at 0.05. Results: It was found that higher the economic and educational level, better was the subjective oral health, lower the CPI, lower the experience of toothache, higher the frequency of toothbrush use, lower the number of people having chewing problems, and higher the frequency of oral checkups. Conclusions: Oral health inequality exists among social classes. It is suggested that continuous research and efforts be carried out to promote oral health while considering socioeconomic and educational levels. Further, active government efforts will be needed to address polarization by social class.

• 동아시아경상학회지
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.71-80
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• 2023

Purpose - The pandemic has magnified and deepened existing socioeconomic disparities, including healthcare, education, income, gender, and housing. This study aims to examine the intersectionality of these disparities and their implications for promoting equity and justice. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is a comprehensive review of the literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on socioeconomic disparities. The review includes empirical studies, policy reports, and academic articles on healthcare, education, income, gender, and housing disparities. Result - The pandemic has exposed significant disparities in healthcare, education, income, gender, and housing. Healthcare disparities have been highlighted, and there is a need for more equitable access to care and addressing social determinants of health. Educational and income disparities are closely linked, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality. Gender disparities have been exacerbated, with women experiencing disproportionate impacts on their health, well-being, and economic security. The pandemic has highlighted the need for safe, stable, and affordable housing. Conclusion - The pandemic has brought to light numerous socioeconomic disparities that require systemic change to address. Promoting equity and justice requires a comprehensive, long-term approach that addresses systemic factors and promotes social and economic equity. By taking action to address these issues, we can create a more just and equitable society that promotes the health and well-being of all its members.