Hu, Y;
Pikhart, H;
Pajak, A;
Kubinova, R;
Malyutina, S;
Besala, A;
Peasey, A;
... Bobak, M; + view all
(2016)
Education, material condition and physical functioning trajectories in middle-aged and older adults in Central and Eastern Europe: a cross-country comparison.
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health
, 70
(11)
pp. 1128-1135.
10.1136/jech-2015-206548.
Preview |
Text
1128.full.pdf - Published Version Download (490kB) | Preview |
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Two competing hypotheses, cumulative advantage/disadvantage and age-as-leveller, have been proposed to explain the contradictory findings on socioeconomic differences in health over the lifespan. To test these hypotheses, this investigation examined the influence of educational attainment and material condition on individual trajectories of physical functioning (PF) in unexplored ageing populations in Central and Eastern Europe. METHODS: 28 783 men and women aged 45–69 years selected from populations in seven Czech towns, Krakow (Poland) and Novosibirsk (Russia). PF was measured by the Physical Functioning Subscale (PF-10) of the Short-Form-36 questionnaire (SF-36) at baseline and three subsequent occasions. The highest educational attainment was self-reported at baseline, and material condition was captured by the sum score of 12 household amenities and assets. RESULTS: In all cohorts, participants with a university degree had the highest PF-10 score at baseline and slowest rate of decline in the score during follow-up, while the lowest baseline scores and fastest decline rate were found in participants with less than secondary education in all cohorts and in Russians with secondary education. Similar disparities in the baseline PF-10 score and decline rate were observed across tertiles of material condition, but differences in decline rates across the three tertiles among Czechs or between the lower two tertiles among Russians were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in PF by educational attainment and material condition among middle-aged and older adults in Central and Eastern Europe existed at baseline and widened during ∼10 years of follow-up, supporting the cumulative advantage/disadvantage hypothesis.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Education, material condition and physical functioning trajectories in middle-aged and older adults in Central and Eastern Europe: a cross-country comparison |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1136/jech-2015-206548 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2015-206548 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Public, Environmental & Occupational Health, Self-Rated Health, Socioeconomic-Status, Cumulative Advantage, Multiple Imputation, Social Inequalities, Life Disability, Cohort, Determinants, Population, Patterns |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1496253 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
