IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujoag/v16y2019i4d10.1007_s10433-019-00517-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are there educational disparities in health and functioning among the oldest old? Evidence from the Nordic countries

Author

Listed:
  • Linda Enroth

    (Tampere University)

  • Marijke Veenstra

    (OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University)

  • Marja Aartsen

    (OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University)

  • Agnete Aslaug Kjær

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Charlotte Juul Nilsson

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Stefan Fors

    (Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University)

Abstract

With the ageing of the population and recent pressures on important welfare state arrangements, updated knowledge on the linkage between socioeconomic status and health in old age is pertinent for shedding light on emerging patterns of health inequalities in the Nordic countries. This study examined self-rated health (SRH), mobility and activities of daily living (ADL) according to level of education in the three oldest old age groups 75–84, 85–94, and 95+, in four Nordic countries. Altogether, 6132 individuals from Danish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation study, Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old, the 5-Country Oldest Old (Sweden) and Vitality 90 + Study were analysed. First, associations of education level with SRH, mobility, and ADL were estimated for each individual study by means of age- and gender-adjusted logistic regression. Second, results from individual studies were synthesized in a meta-analysis. Older adults with higher education level were more likely to report good SRH, and they were more often independent in mobility and ADL than those with basic education when all age groups were combined. In mobility and ADL, differences between education groups remained stable across the age groups but for SRH, differences seemed to be weaker in older ages. With only a few exceptions, in all age groups, individuals with higher education had more favourable health and functioning than those with basic education. This study shows remarkable persistence of health and functioning inequalities in the Nordic countries throughout later life.

Suggested Citation

  • Linda Enroth & Marijke Veenstra & Marja Aartsen & Agnete Aslaug Kjær & Charlotte Juul Nilsson & Stefan Fors, 2019. "Are there educational disparities in health and functioning among the oldest old? Evidence from the Nordic countries," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 415-424, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:16:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-019-00517-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-019-00517-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-019-00517-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10433-019-00517-x?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rasmus Hoffmann, 2011. "Illness, Not Age, Is the Leveler of Social Mortality Differences in Old Age," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 66(3), pages 374-379.
    2. Arber, Sara & Cooper, Helen, 1999. "Gender differences in health in later life: the new paradox?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 61-76, January.
    3. Huijts, Tim & Eikemo, Terje Andreas & Skalická, Vera, 2010. "Income-related health inequalities in the Nordic countries: Examining the role of education, occupational class, and age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(11), pages 1964-1972, December.
    4. Huisman, Martijn & Kunst, Anton E. & Mackenbach, Johan P., 2003. "Socioeconomic inequalities in morbidity among the elderly; a European overview," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(5), pages 861-873, September.
    5. Stefan Fors & Mats Thorslund, 2015. "Enduring inequality: educational disparities in health among the oldest old in Sweden 1992–2011," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(1), pages 91-98, January.
    6. Stefan Fors & Mats Thorslund, 2015. "Erratum to: Enduring inequality: educational disparities in health among the oldest old in Sweden 1992–2011," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(1), pages 99-99, January.
    7. Mackenbach, Johan P., 2012. "The persistence of health inequalities in modern welfare states: The explanation of a paradox," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(4), pages 761-769.
    8. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10510 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Linda Enroth & Jani Raitanen & Antti Hervonen & Marja Jylhä, 2013. "Do Socioeconomic Health Differences Persist in Nonagenarians?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 68(5), pages 837-847.
    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. Johan Fritzell & Neda Agahi & Marja Jylhä & Tine Rostgaard, 2022. "Social inequalities in ageing in the Nordic countries," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 155-159, June.
    2. Matthias Kliegel & Susanne Iwarsson & Morten Wahrendorf & Nadia Minicuci & Marja J. Aartsen, 2020. "The European Journal of Ageing at the beginning of the Decade of Healthy Ageing," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-2, March.
    3. Liina-Kaisa Tynkkynen & Jutta Pulkki & Leena Tervonen-Gonçalves & Pär Schön & Bo Burström & Ilmo Keskimäki, 2022. "Health system reforms and the needs of the ageing population—an analysis of recent policy paths and reform trends in Finland and Sweden," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 221-232, June.
    4. Linda Enroth & Domantas Jasilionis & Laszlo Németh & Bjørn Heine Strand & Insani Tanjung & Louise Sundberg & Stefan Fors & Marja Jylhä & Henrik Brønnum-Hansen, 2022. "Changes in socioeconomic differentials in old age life expectancy in four Nordic countries: the impact of educational expansion and education-specific mortality," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 161-173, June.

    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. Patricia Gómez-Costilla & Carmen García-Prieto & Noelia Somarriba-Arechavala, 2022. "Aging and Gender Health Gap: A Multilevel Analysis for 17 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 1051-1069, April.
    2. Darin-Mattsson, Alexander & Andel, Ross & Celeste, Roger Keller & Kåreholt, Ingemar, 2018. "Linking financial hardship throughout the life-course with psychological distress in old age: Sensitive period, accumulation of risks, and chain of risks hypotheses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 111-119.
    3. Jens Hoebel & Alexander Rommel & Sara Lena Schröder & Judith Fuchs & Enno Nowossadeck & Thomas Lampert, 2017. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health and Perceived Unmet Needs for Healthcare among the Elderly in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Liliya Leopold & Thomas Leopold, 2016. "Education and Health across Lives and Cohorts: A Study of Cumulative Advantage in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 835, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    5. Claudia Börnhorst & Dörte Heger & Anne Mensen, 2019. "Associations of childhood health and financial situation with quality of life after retirement – regional variation across Europe," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Roy, Kakoli & Chaudhuri, Anoshua, 2008. "Influence of socioeconomic status, wealth and financial empowerment on gender differences in health and healthcare utilization in later life: evidence from India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1951-1962, May.
    7. Linda Enroth & Mari Aaltonen & Jani Raitanen & Lily Nosraty & Marja Jylhä, 2018. "Does use of long-term care differ between occupational classes among the oldest old? Vitality 90 + Study," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 143-153, June.
    8. Hoffmann, Rasmus & Kröger, Hannes & Tarkiainen, Lasse & Martikainen, Pekka, 2019. "Dimensions of Social Stratification and Their Relation to Mortality: A Comparison Across Gender and Life Course Periods in Finland," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 145(1), pages 349-365.
    9. Lucky Singh & Perianayagam Arokiasamy & Prashant Kumar Singh & Rajesh Kumar Rai, 2013. "Determinants of Gender Differences in Self-Rated Health Among Older Population," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(2), pages 21582440134, May.
    10. Anastasia Zelenina & Svetlana Shalnova & Sergey Maksimov & Oksana Drapkina, 2022. "Characteristics of Composite Deprivation Indices Used in Public Health: A Scoping Review Protocol," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-7, August.
    11. Stefan Fors & Stefania Illinca & Janet Jull & Selma Kadi & Susan Phillips & Ricardo Rodrigues & Afshin Vafaei & Eszter Zolyomi & Johan Rehnberg, 2022. "Cohort-specific disability trajectories among older women and men in Europe 2004–2017," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1111-1119, December.
    12. Virginia Zarulli, 2016. "Unobserved Heterogeneity of Frailty in the Analysis of Socioeconomic Differences in Health and Mortality," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 55-72, February.
    13. Myung Ki & Yo Han Lee & Yong-Soo Kim & Ji-Yeon Shin & Jiseun Lim & James Nazroo, 2017. "Socioeconomic inequalities in health in the context of multimorbidity: A Korean panel study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-14, March.
    14. Börnhorst, Claudia & Heger, Dörte & Mensen, Anne, 2019. "Associations of childhood health and financial situation with quality of life after retirement – regional variation across Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(4).
    15. Pengfei Sheng & Tingting Yang & Tengfei Zhang, 2021. "The Unmet Medical Demand among China’s Urban Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-13, November.
    16. Rasmus Hoffmann & Hannes Kröger & Lasse Tarkiainen & Pekka Martikainen, 2019. "Dimensions of Social Stratification and Their Relation to Mortality: A Comparison Across Gender and Life Course Periods in Finland," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 349-365, August.
    17. Maria Vozikaki & Manolis Linardakis & Katerina Micheli & Anastas Philalithis, 2017. "Activity Participation and Well-Being Among European Adults Aged 65 years and Older," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 769-795, March.
    18. Kumar, Kaushalendra & Shukla, Ankita & Singh, Abhishek & Ram, Faujdar & Kowal, Paul, 2016. "Association between wealth and health among older adults in rural China and India," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 43-52.
    19. Lina Schollin Ask & Can Liu & Karl Gauffin & Anders Hjern, 2019. "The Effect of Rotavirus Vaccine on Socioeconomic Differentials of Paediatric Care Due to Gastroenteritis in Swedish Infants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-10, March.
    20. Olof Östergren & Pekka Martikainen & Olle Lundberg, 2018. "The contribution of alcohol consumption and smoking to educational inequalities in life expectancy among Swedish men and women during 1991–2008," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(1), pages 41-48, January.

    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:spr:eujoag:v:16:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-019-00517-x. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.