Skip to main content

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
Cancel
×
Home
Article
    • Aa
    • Aa
  • Cited by 4
  • Cited by
    Crossref Citations
    Crossref logo
    This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.

    NYMAN, SAMUEL R. and VICTOR, CHRISTINA R. 2014. Use of personal call alarms among community-dwelling older people. Ageing and Society, Vol. 34, Issue. 01, p. 67.

    Spalter, T. Brodsky, J. and Shnoor, Y. 2014. Improvements and Decline in the Physical Functioning of Israeli Older Adults. The Gerontologist, Vol. 54, Issue. 6, p. 919.

    Litwin, Howard and Stoeckel, Kimberly J. 2013. Social network and mobility improvement among older Europeans: the ambiguous role of family ties. European Journal of Ageing, Vol. 10, Issue. 3, p. 159.

    Wahrendorf, Morten Reinhardt, Jan D. Siegrist, Johannes and Zhang, Harry 2013. Relationships of Disability with Age Among Adults Aged 50 to 85: Evidence from the United States, England and Continental Europe. PLoS ONE, Vol. 8, Issue. 8, p. e71893.

    ×
  • Get access
    Add to cart $25.00
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    Log in Register Recommend to librarian

Socio-economic inequalities in physical functioning: a comparative study of English and Greek elderly men

  • FAIZA TABASSUM (a1), GEORGIA VERROPOULOU (a2) (a3), CLEON TSIMBOS (a2), EDLIRA GJONCA (a1) and ELIZABETH BREEZE (a1)...
Abstract
ABSTRACT

The associations between socio-economic position (SEP) and physical functioning have frequently been investigated but little is known about which measures of SEP are the best to use for older people. This study examined how different SEP indicators related to the physical functioning of men aged 50 or more years in England and Greece. The data derived from Wave 1 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Self-reported physical functioning limitations and mobility difficulties were combined and categorised into ‘no disability’, ‘mild disability’ and ‘severe disability’. The SEP indicators studied were: wealth, educational level and occupational class. The findings indicate that respondents with less wealth, fewer educational qualifications and lower occupational class were more likely to experience mild or severe physical disability than those of high SEP. When all three measures of SEP were adjusted for each other, in both samples wealth maintained a strong association with mild and severe disability, while education was associated with severe disability but only among English men. Occupational class was not strongly associated with physical disability in either case. Hence, among English and Greek older men, wealth was a more important predictor of physical functioning difficulties than either occupational class or education.

Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © Cambridge University Press 2009
Corresponding author
Address for correspondence: Faiza Tabassum, Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1–19 Torrington Place, LondonWC1E 6BT, UK. E-mail: f.tabassum@ucl.ac.uk
Linked references
Hide All

This list contains references from the content that can be linked to their source. For a full set of references and notes please see the PDF or HTML where available.

A Agresti . 2002. Categorical Data Analysis. Wiley, New York.
L. Artazcoz and S Rueda . 2007. Social inequalities in health among the elderly: a challenge for public health research. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 61, 6, 466–7.
D. J. Barker 1995. Fetal origins of coronary heart disease. British Medical Journal, 311, 6998, 171–4.
C. S. Berkman and B. J. Gurland 1998. The relationship among income, other socioeconomic indicators, and functional level in older persons. Journal of Aging and Health, 10, 1, 81–98.
J. Bhattacharya , K. Choudhry and D Lakdawalla . 2008. Chronic disease and severe disability among working-age populations. Medical Care, 46, 1, 92–100.
D Blane . 2003. Explanations of the difference in mortality risk between different educational groups. International Journal of Epidemiology, 32, 3, 355–6.
D. Blane , G. Netuveli and S. M. Montgomery 2008. Quality of life, health and physiological status and change at older ages. Social Science and Medicine, 66, 7, 1579–87.
A. K. Coppin , L. Ferrucci , F. Lauretani , C. Phillips , M. Chang , S. Bandinelli and J. M. Guralnik 2006. Low socioeconomic status and disability in old age: evidence from the Inchianti study for the mediating role of physiological impairments. Journals of Gerontology: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 61, 1, 86–91.
J Costa-Font . 2008. Housing assets and the socio-economic determinants of health and disability in old age. Health and Place, 14, 3, 478–91.
E. Dahl and G. E. Birkelund 1997. Health inequalities in later life in a social democratic welfare state. Social Science and Medicine, 44, 6, 871–81.
S. Ebrahim , O. Papacosta , G. Wannamethee and J Adamson . 2004. Social inequalities and disability in older men: prospective findings from the British regional heart study. Social Science and Medicine, 59, 10, 2109–20.
T. A. Eikemo , M. Huisman , C. Bambra and A. E. Kunst 2008. Health inequalities according to educational level in different welfare regimes: a comparison of 23 European countries. Sociology of Health and Illness, 30, 4, 565–82.
A. Espelt , C. Borrell , M. Rodriguez-Sanz , C. Muntaner , M. I. Pasarin , J. Benach , M. Schaap , A. E. Kunst and V Navarro . 2008. Inequalities in health by social class dimensions in European countries of different political traditions. International Journal of Epidemiology, 37, 5, 1095–105.
V. A. Freedman , L. G. Martin , R. F. Schoeni and J. C. Cornman 2008. Declines in late-life disability: the role of early- and mid-life factors. Social Science and Medicine, 66, 7, 1588–602.
E. Grundy and G Holt . 2001. The socioeconomic status of older adults: how should we measure it in studies of health inequalities? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 55, 12, 895–904.
M. Huisman , A. E. Kunst and J. P. Mackenbach 2003. Socioeconomic inequalities in morbidity among the elderly: a European overview. Social Science and Medicine, 57, 5, 861–73.
M. Hyde and I. R. Jones 2007. The long shadow of work: does time since labour market exit affect the association between socioeconomic position and health in a post-working population? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 61, 6, 533–9.
C. Jagger , R. Matthews , D. Melzer , F. Matthews , C. Brayne and CFAS. MRC 2007. Educational differences in the dynamics of disability incidence, recovery and mortality: findings from the MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC CFAS). International Journal of Epidemiology, 36, 2, 358–65.
S. Katz , A. B. Ford , R. W. Moskowitz , B. A. Jackson and M. W. Jaffe 1963. Studies of illness in the aged. The index of ADL: a standardised measure of biological and psychological function. Journal of the American Medical Association, 185, 914–9.
L. A. Keister and S Moller . 2000. Wealth inequalities in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 1, 63–81.
R. Lamarca , M. Ferrer P. K. Andersen , K. Liestol , N. Keiding and J Alonso . 2003. A changing relationship between disability and survival in the elderly population: differences by age. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 56, 12, 1192–201.
L. J. Launer , T. Harris , C. Rumpel and J Madans . 1994. Body mass index, weight change and risk of mobility disability in middle-aged and older women: the epidemiologic follow-up study of NHANES I. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271, 14, 1093–8.
M. P. Lawton and E. M Brody . 1969. Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. The Gerontologist, 9, 3, 179–86.
J. P. Mackenbach and M. J Bakker . 2003. Tackling socioeconomic inequalities in health: analysis of European experiences. The Lancet, 362, 9393, 1409–14.
J. P. Mackenbach and A. E. Kunst 1997. Measuring the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities in health: an overview of available measures illustrated with two examples from Europe. Social Science and Medicine, 44, 6, 757–71.
J. P. Mackenbach , A. E. Kunst , A. E. Cavelaars , F. Groenhof and J. J. Geurts 1997. Socioeconomic inequalities in morbidity and mortality in western Europe. The Lancet, 349, 9066, 1655–9.
M. Minkler , E. Fuller-Thomson and J. M. Guralnik 2006. Gradient of disability across the socioeconomic spectrum in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 355, 7, 695–703.
J. Ogg and S Renault . 2006. The support of parents in old age by those born during 1945–1954: a European perspective. Ageing & Society, 26, 5, 723–43.
K. M. Olsen and S Dahl . 2007. Health differences between European countries. Social Science and Medicine, 64, 8, 1665–78.
W. K. Scott , C. A. Macera , C. B. Cornman and P. A. Sharpe 1997. Functional health status as a predictor of mortality in men and women over 65. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 50, 3, 291–6.
C. Tsimbos and G Verropoulou . 2008. A multivariate analysis of factors associated with physical functioning limitations in the Greek elderly population. Journal of Statistics and Management Systems, 11, 6, 1161–80.
O. von dem Knesebeck , P. E. Verde and N Dragano . 2006. Education and health in 22 European countries. Social Science and Medicine, 63, 5, 1344–51.
R. Wilkie , G. Peat , E. Thomas and P Croft . 2007. Factors associated with participation restriction in community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over. Quality of Life Research, 16, 7, 1147–56.
M. A. Winkleby , D. E. Jatulis , E. Frank and S. P. Fortmann 1992. Socioeconomic status and health: how education, income and occupation contribute to risk factors for cardiovascular disease. American Journal of Public Health, 82, 6, 816–20.
Z. Zimmer and J. S. House 2003. Education, income and functional limitation transitions among American adults: contrasting onset and progression. International Journal of Epidemiology, 32, 6, 1089–97.
Recommend this journal

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

Ageing & Society
  • ISSN: 0144-686X
  • EISSN: 1469-1779
  • URL: /core/journals/ageing-and-society
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to? *

CAPTCHA *

Skip to the audio challenge
×

Keywords:

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 1
Total number of PDF views: 12 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 175 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between September 2016 - 13th July 2017. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Cancel
Confirm
×