Socioeconomic status and self-reported chronic diseases among Argentina?s adult population: results based on multivariate probability models

TEMPORELLI KARINA, VIEGO VALENTINA

Journal of Public Health Research

Pagepress

Lugar: Pavia; Año: 2017 vol. 6

Background. Hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemiaare the most frequent and diagnosed chronic diseases inArgentina. They contribute largely to the burden of chronicdisease and they are strongly influenced by a small number of riskfactors. These risk factors are all modifiable at the population andindividual level and offer major prospects for their prevention. Weare interested in socioeconomic determinants of prevalence ofthose 3 specific diseases.Design and methods. We estimate 3-equation probit model,combined with 3 separate probit estimations and a probit-basedHeckman correction considering possible sample selection bias.Estimations were carried out using secondary self-reported datacoming from the 2013 Risk Factor National Survey.Results. We find a negative association between socioeconomicstatus and prevalence of hypertension, cholesterolemia and diabetes;main increases concentrate in the transition from low tohigh SES in hypertension and diabetes. In cholesterol, the majoreffect takes place when individual crosses from low to middle SESand then vanishes. Anyway, in Argentina SES exhibit and independenteffect on chronic diseases apart from those based onhabits and body weight.Conclusions. Public strategies to prevent chronic diseasesmust be specially targeted at women, poorest households and theleast educated individuals in order to achieve efficacy. Also, as theprobability of having a condition related to excessive bloodpressure, high levels of cholesterol or glucose in the blood do notincrease proportionally with age, so public campaigns promotinghealthy diets, physical activity and medical checkups should befocused on young individuals to facilitate prophylaxis.