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Socio‐economic health inequalities in Brazil: gender and age effects

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  • M. Dolores Montoya Diaz

Abstract

This paper analyses Brazilian socio‐economic inequalities in health by measuring the concentration indices for the following variables: health expectancy, self‐assessed health status and chronic health problems. Data used were taken from the 1996/1997 Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS). In summary, as far as gender distinction is concerned, the results showed that up to 5 years of age the mortality rates, reported appearance of chronic health problems as well as the self‐assessed health indicated that the boys were in worse health condition than the girls. After this age group there was a tendency for differences to disappear until adulthood, when the situation changed and the women consistently considered themselves less healthy. With reference to the socio‐economic inequalities, one generally finds larger differences within the women's groups. The analysis for the different age groups indicated that the pro‐rich inequalities increased with age. Both results were clearly proved, especially for the health expectancy variable, by adopting an adjustment of the dominance concept derived from literature on economic inequalities, consisting of comparing concentration curves. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • M. Dolores Montoya Diaz, 2002. "Socio‐economic health inequalities in Brazil: gender and age effects," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 141-154, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:11:y:2002:i:2:p:141-154
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.649
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    Cited by:

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    2. Charasse-Pouélé, Cécile & Fournier, Martin, 2006. "Health disparities between racial groups in South Africa: A decomposition analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 2897-2914, June.
    3. Lisa Cameron & Jenny Williams, 2009. "Is the relationship between socioeconomic status and health stronger for older children in developing countries?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(2), pages 303-324, May.
    4. Joan Costa-Font & Cristina Hernandez-Quevedo & Azusa Sato, 2018. "A Health ‘Kuznets’ Curve’? Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evidence on Concentration Indices’," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 439-452, April.
    5. Nesson, Erik T. & Robinson, Joshua J., 2019. "On the measurement of health and its effect on the measurement of health inequality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 207-221.

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