IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0155022.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Serum Albumin Levels and Economic Status in Japanese Older Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Asami Ota
  • Naoki Kondo
  • Nobuko Murayama
  • Naohito Tanabe
  • Yugo Shobugawa
  • Katsunori Kondo
  • Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) group

Abstract

Background: Low serum albumin levels are associated with aging and medical conditions such as cancer, liver dysfunction, inflammation, and malnutrition and might be an independent predictor of long-term mortality in healthy older populations. We tested the hypothesis that economic status is associated with serum albumin levels and explained by nutritional and health status in Japanese older adults. Design: We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation study (JAGES). The study participants were 6528 functionally independent residents (3189 men and 3339 women) aged ≥65 years living in four municipalities in Aichi prefecture. We used household income as an indicator of economic status. Multiple linear regression was used to compare serum albumin levels in relation to household income, which was classified as low, middle, and high. Additionally, mediation by nutritional and health-related factors was analyzed in multivariable models. Results: With the middle-income group as reference, participants with low incomes had a significantly lower serum albumin level, even after adjustment for sex, age, residential area, education, marital status, and household structure. The estimated mean difference was −0.17 g/L (95% confidence interval, −0.33 to −0.01 g/L). The relation between serum albumin level and low income became statistically insignificant when “body mass index”, “consumption of meat or fish”, “self-rated health”, “presence of medical conditions”, “hyperlipidemia”, or “respiratory disease “was included in the model. Conclusion: Serum albumin levels were lower in Japanese older adults with low economic status. The decrease in albumin levels appears to be mediated by nutrition and health-related factors with low household incomes. Future studies are needed to reveal the existence of other pathways.

Suggested Citation

  • Asami Ota & Naoki Kondo & Nobuko Murayama & Naohito Tanabe & Yugo Shobugawa & Katsunori Kondo & Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) group, 2016. "Serum Albumin Levels and Economic Status in Japanese Older Adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0155022
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155022
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155022&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0155022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jylhä, Marja, 2009. "What is self-rated health and why does it predict mortality? Towards a unified conceptual model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 307-316, August.
    2. Louie, G.H. & Ward, M.M., 2011. "Socioeconomic and ethnic differences in disease burden and disparities in physical function in older adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(7), pages 1322-1329.
    3. Akihiro Nishi & Ichiro Kawachi & Kokoro Shirai & Hiroshi Hirai & Seungwon Jeong & Katsunori Kondo, 2012. "Sex/Gender and Socioeconomic Differences in the Predictive Ability of Self-Rated Health for Mortality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, January.
    4. Smith, G.D., 2000. "Learning to live with complexity: Ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and health in Britain and the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 90(11), pages 1694-1698.
    5. Goldman, Noreen & Turra, Cassio M. & Rosero-Bixby, Luis & Weir, David & Crimmins, Eileen, 2011. "Do biological measures mediate the relationship between education and health: A comparative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 307-315, January.
    6. Ichida, Yukinobu & Kondo, Katsunori & Hirai, Hiroshi & Hanibuchi, Tomoya & Yoshikawa, Goshu & Murata, Chiyoe, 2009. "Social capital, income inequality and self-rated health in Chita peninsula, Japan: a multilevel analysis of older people in 25 communities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 489-499, August.
    7. Ichida, Yukinobu & Hirai, Hiroshi & Kondo, Katsunori & Kawachi, Ichiro & Takeda, Tokunori & Endo, Hideki, 2013. "Does social participation improve self-rated health in the older population? A quasi-experimental intervention study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 83-90.
    8. Kagamimori, Sadanobu & Gaina, Alexandru & Nasermoaddeli, Ali, 2009. "Socioeconomic status and health in the Japanese population," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2152-2160, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fumie Okada & Takehiko Kaneko & Satoshi Toyokawa & Tadashi Furuhata, 2020. "Contextual Associations of Interregional Income Gap with Physical Constitution and Dietary Environment in Individual Housebound Elderly," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(4), pages 1-94, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hiyoshi, Ayako & Fukuda, Yoshiharu & Shipley, Martin J. & Brunner, Eric J., 2014. "Health inequalities in Japan: The role of material, psychosocial, social relational and behavioural factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 201-209.
    2. Yosuke Kasai & Etsuji Suzuki & Toshihide Iwase & Hiroyuki Doi & Soshi Takao, 2013. "Type D Personality Is Associated with Psychological Distress and Poor Self-Rated Health among the Elderly: A Population-Based Study in Japan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-7, October.
    3. Jane K L Teh & Nai Peng Tey & Sor Tho Ng, 2014. "Ethnic and Gender Differentials in Non-Communicable Diseases and Self-Rated Health in Malaysia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-8, March.
    4. Kino, Shiho & Jang, Soong-nang & Takahashi, Shuko & Ebner, Daniel K. & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2020. "Socioeconomic disparities in self-rated health in two East Asian countries: Comparative study between Japan and Korea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    5. Sophie Le Cœur & Aline Desesquelles & Elisabeth Morand & Cheeraya Kanabkaew & Éva Lelièvre, 2017. "Self-rated Health among HIV-infected People Receiving Treatments in Thailand," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, January.
    6. Hanibuchi, Tomoya & Murata, Yohei & Ichida, Yukinobu & Hirai, Hiroshi & Kawachi, Ichiro & Kondo, Katsunori, 2012. "Place-specific constructs of social capital and their possible associations to health: A Japanese case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 225-232.
    7. Suzuki, Etsuji & Takao, Soshi & Subramanian, S.V. & Komatsu, Hirokazu & Doi, Hiroyuki & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2010. "Does low workplace social capital have detrimental effect on workers' health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(9), pages 1367-1372, May.
    8. Jonathan K Burns & Andrew Tomita & Amy S Kapadia, 2014. "Income inequality and schizophrenia: Increased schizophrenia incidence in countries with high levels of income inequality," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(2), pages 185-196, March.
    9. Duncan Gillespie & Meredith Trotter & Shripad Tuljapurkar, 2014. "Divergence in Age Patterns of Mortality Change Drives International Divergence in Lifespan Inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 1003-1017, June.
    10. Xi Pan & Rose Ward, 2015. "Self-management and Self-rated Health Among Middle-aged and Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes in China: A Structural Equation Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 247-260, January.
    11. Wolf, Jennifer Price & Freisthler, Bridget & McCarthy, Karla Shockley, 2021. "Parenting in poor health: Examining associations between parental health, prescription drug use, and child maltreatment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    12. Eiji Yamamura, 2011. "Differences in the effect of social capital on health status between workers and non-workers," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 58(4), pages 385-400, December.
    13. Zheng Xie & Adrienne N Poon & Zhijun Wu & Weiyan Jian & Kit Yee Chan, 2015. "Is Occupation a Good Predictor of Self-Rated Health in China?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Inaba, Yoji & Wada, Yuri & Ichida, Yukinobu & Nishikawa, Masashi, 2015. "Which part of community social capital is related to life satisfaction and self-rated health? A multilevel analysis based on a nationwide mail survey in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 169-182.
    15. Zimmer, Zachary & Prachuabmoh, Vipan, 2012. "Comparing the socioeconomic status – Health gradient among adults 50 and older across rural and urban areas of Thailand in 1994 and 2007," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 1921-1928.
    16. Floor V.A. Van Oort & Jan Van der Ende & Alfons A.M. Crijnen & Frank C. Verhulst & Johan P. Mackenbach & Inez M.A. Joung, 2007. "Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health and Educational Attainment: Comparing Migrant and Native Children," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 53(6), pages 514-525, November.
    17. Murayama, Hiroshi & Wakui, Tomoko & Arami, Reiko & Sugawara, Ikuko & Yoshie, Satoru, 2012. "Contextual effect of different components of social capital on health in a suburban city of the greater Tokyo area: A multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2472-2480.
    18. Ilias‐Ioannis Kyriopoulos & Dimitris Zavras & Antonis Charonis & Kostas Athanasakis & Elpida Pavi & John Kyriopoulos, 2016. "Indebtedness, Socioeconomic Status, and Self‐Rated Health: Empirical Evidence From Greece," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(4), pages 387-397, December.
    19. Satoru Kanamori & Yuko Kai & Jun Aida & Katsunori Kondo & Ichiro Kawachi & Hiroshi Hirai & Kokoro Shirai & Yoshiki Ishikawa & Kayo Suzuki & The JAGES Group, 2014. "Social Participation and the Prevention of Functional Disability in Older Japanese: The JAGES Cohort Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-10, June.
    20. Oshio, Takashi & 小塩, 隆士 & オシオ, タカシ & Urakawa, Kunio, 2011. "Neighborhood Perceptions, Self-rated Health, and Personality Traits: Evidence from Japan," CIS Discussion paper series 531, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0155022. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.