Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Sep 3:6:85.
doi: 10.4103/2008-7802.164413. eCollection 2015.

Does Multi-morbidity Mediate the Effect of Socioeconomics on Self-rated Health? Cross-country Differences

Shervin Assari  1 , Maryam Moghani Lankarani  1
Affiliations

Does Multi-morbidity Mediate the Effect of Socioeconomics on Self-rated Health? Cross-country Differences

Shervin Assari et al. Int J Prev Med. .

Abstract

Background: This study explored cross-country differences in how multi-morbidity explains the effects of socioeconomic characteristics on self-rated health.

Methods: The study borrowed data from the Research on Early Life and Aging Trends and Effects. Participants were 44,530 individuals (age > 65 years) who were sampled from 15 countries (i.e. United States, China, India, Russia, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Uruguay, Ghana and South Africa). Multi-morbidity was measured as number of chronic medical conditions. In Model I, main effects of socioeconomic factors on self-rated health were calculated using country-specific logistic regressions. In Model II, number of chronic conditions were also added to the models to find changes in coefficients for demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Results: In the United States, number of chronic medical conditions explained the effect of income on subjective health. In Puerto Rico, number of chronic medical conditions explained the effect of marital status on subjective health. In Costa Rica, Argentina, Barbados, Cuba, and Uruguay, number of chronic medical conditions explained gender disparities in subjective health. In China, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Chile, India, Ghana and South Africa, number of chronic medical conditions did not explain the effect of demographic or socioeconomic factors on subjective health.

Conclusions: Multi-morbidity explains the effect of demographic and socioeconomic factors on subjective health in some but not other countries. Further research is needed.

Keywords: Chronic medical conditions; physical health; sociodemographics; subjective health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

References

    1. Zborowski M. Cultural components in response to pain. J Soc Issues. 1952;8:16–30.
    1. Zola IK. Culture and symptoms – An analysis of patients’ presenting complaints. Am Sociol Rev. 1966;31:615–30. - PubMed
    1. Fabrega H., Jr The study of disease in relation to culture. Behav Sci. 1972;17:183–203. - PubMed
    1. Kleinman A, Kleinman J. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press; 1985. Somatization: The interconnections in Chinese society among culture, depressive experiences, and the meaning of pain.
    1. Gureje O, Simon GE, Ustun TB, Goldberg DP. Somatization in cross-cultural perspective: A World Health Organization study in primary care. Am J Psychiatry. 1997;154:989–95. - PubMed