• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2023

Purpose - The pandemic has magnified and deepened existing socioeconomic disparities, including healthcare, education, income, gender, and housing. This study aims to examine the intersectionality of these disparities and their implications for promoting equity and justice. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is a comprehensive review of the literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on socioeconomic disparities. The review includes empirical studies, policy reports, and academic articles on healthcare, education, income, gender, and housing disparities. Result - The pandemic has exposed significant disparities in healthcare, education, income, gender, and housing. Healthcare disparities have been highlighted, and there is a need for more equitable access to care and addressing social determinants of health. Educational and income disparities are closely linked, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality. Gender disparities have been exacerbated, with women experiencing disproportionate impacts on their health, well-being, and economic security. The pandemic has highlighted the need for safe, stable, and affordable housing. Conclusion - The pandemic has brought to light numerous socioeconomic disparities that require systemic change to address. Promoting equity and justice requires a comprehensive, long-term approach that addresses systemic factors and promotes social and economic equity. By taking action to address these issues, we can create a more just and equitable society that promotes the health and well-being of all its members.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.129-140
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• 2009

Objectives: This study aimed to examined the socioeconomic disparities in oral health related behaviors and to assess if those behaviors eliminate socioeconomic disparities in oral health in a nationally representative sample of adults aged 30-64. Methods: Data are from the Korea Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005). Behaviors were indicated by smoking, over intake of daily calories from carbohydrate, perceived stress, frequency of daily tooth brushing, use of oral hygiene goods, insufficient oral treatment. Oral health outcomes were self-reported dental caries and periodontitis during the last 12 months and perceived oral health. Education, household income, and employed status indicated socioeconomic position. Sex, age, residential area, marital status were adjusted for in the logistic regression analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess socioeconomic disparities in behaviors. Logistic regression model adjusting and not adjusting for behaviors were compared to assess the change in socioeconomic disparities in oral health. Results: Clear socioeconomic disparities in all behaviors were showed. After adjusting for behaviors, the association between oral health and socioeconomic indicators attenuated but did not disappear. For example, the odd ratios of reporting poorer oral health for persons in no education or elementary school education and middle school education groups, compared with college or higher education group, were 1.77 (95% CI: 1.36-2.29) and 1.56 (1.19-1.97), respectively. After adjusting for all indicators of behaviors, these odds ratios attenuated to 1.54 (1.17-2.03) and 1.48 (1.15-1.91) for those groups, respectively. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the presence of more complex determinants of socioeconomic disparities in oral health should be considered with developing preventive policies for those disparities.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.186-194
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• 2008

Objectives : This study describes trends in the socioeconomic disparities in breast cancer screening among US women aged 40 or over, from 2000 to 2005. We assessed 1) the disparities in each socioeconomic dimension; 2) the changes in screening mammography rates over time according to income, education, and race; and 3) the sizes and trends of the disparities over time. Methods : Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 2000 to 2005, we calculated the age-adjusted screening rate according to relative household income, education level, health insurance, and race. Odds ratios and the relative inequality index (RII) were also calculated, controlling for age. Results : Women in their 40s and those with lower relative incomes were less likely to undergo screening mammography. The disparity based on relative income was greater than that based on education or race (the RII among low-income women across the survey years was 3.00 to 3.48). The overall participation rate and absolute differences among socioeconomic groups changed little or decreased slightly across the survey years. However, the degree of each socioeconomic disparity and the relative inequality among socioeconomic positions remained quite consistent. Conclusions : These findings suggest that the trend of the disparity in breast cancer screening varied by socioeconomic dimension. Continued differences in breast cancer screening rates related to income level should be considered in future efforts to decrease the disparities in breast cancer among socioeconomic groups. More focused interventions, as well as the monitoring of trends in cancer screening participation by income and education, are needed in different social settings.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2010

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine socioeconomic inequalities in oral health and to investigate the extent to which socioeconomic disparities in oral health are attenuated by oral health related consciousness and behaviors. Methods: We used data from the third 2006 Korea National Oral Health Survey(KNOHS) and a total of 3,457 subjects aged over 18 years were analyzed. The dependent variable was periodontal conditions which is devided into dichotomy, that is, health and ill-health, using the Community Periodontal Index(CPI) in KNOHS. Socioeconomic status(SES) were measured by educational attainment, income and residential area. Age, gender, oral health consciousness(self-assessed oral health status, concern about oral health and self-perceived dental treatment needs and behaviors(brushing, use of dental floss and dental visits) were adjusted in binary logistic regression analysis. Results and Conclusion: The results show that oral health consciousness and behaviors do not mediate the relationship between SES and periodontal health and there might be limitations to attenuate socioeconomic disparities in oral health only by changing of either oral health consciousness or(and) behaviors. Our findings suggest that more definite oral health policies and dental health education among adults with lower education will need in order to improve oral health.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2024

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the relationship between the socioeconomic status and oral health of adults. Methods: Data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2018) were analyzed, and 13,199 adults aged 19 years or older were selected as study subjects. Various oral health indicators were used to analyze the effect of socioeconomic status on oral health. Disparities in oral health according to socioeconomic status were analyzed using the complex sample chi-squared test and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: A statistically significant difference was observed between income level, medical aid, and all oral health indicators, which indicated that the lower the income level, the lower the oral health level (p<0.001). Furthermore, all oral health indicators displayed statistically significant differences, with the exception of the prevalence of dental caries and education level. The lower the education level, the lower the oral health level (p<0.001). Therefore, the oral health level of adults presented significant differences according to different socioeconomic status indicators. Conclusions: To prevent oral health inequalities, the government and local governments need to intervene not only in the field of health care but also in the social determinants. Additionally, concerted efforts should be made to eliminate oral health disparities by improving policies and systems.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2955-2960
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• 2012

Background: Health disparities exist among and within countries, while developing and low income countries suffer more. The aim of this study was to quantify cancer disparities with regard to socioeconomic position (SEP) in 22 districts of Tehran, Iran. Method: According to the national cancer registry, 7599 new cancer cases were recorded within 22 districts of Tehran in 2008. Based on combined data from census and a population-based health equity study (Urban HEART), socioeconomic position (SEP) was calculated for each district. Index of disparity, absolute and relative concentration indices (ACI & RCI) were used for measuring disparities in cancer incidence. Results: The overall cancer age standardised rate (ASR) was 117.2 per 100,000 individuals (120.4 for men and 113.5 for women). Maximum ASR in both genders was seen in districts 6, 3, 1 and 2. Breast, colorectal, stomach, skin and prostate were the most common cancers. Districts with higher SEP had higher ASR (r=0.9, p<0.001). Positive ACI and RCI indicated that cancer cases accumulated in districts with high SEP. Female disparity was greater than for men in all measures. Breast, colorectal, prostate and bladder ASR ascended across SEP groups. Negative ACI and RCI in cervical and skin cancers in women indicate their aggregation in lower SEP groups. Breast cancer had the highest absolute disparities measure. Conclusion: This report provides an appropriate guide and new evidence on disparities across geographical, demographic and particular SEP groups. Higher ASR in specific districts warrants further research to investigate the background predisposing factors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.281-291
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• 2019

Objectives: The validity of instruments measuring socioeconomic position (SEP) has been a major area of concern in research on cardiovascular health disparities. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify the current status of the methods used to measure SEP in research on cardiovascular health disparities in Korea and to provide directions for future research. Methods: Relevant articles were obtained through electronic database searches with manual searches of reference lists and no restriction on the date of publication. SEP indicators were categorized into compositional, contextual, composite, and life-course measures. Results: Forty-eight studies published from 2003 to 2018 satisfied the review criteria. Studies utilizing compositional measures mainly relied on a limited number of SEP parameters. In addition, these measures hardly addressed the time-varying and subjective features of SEP. Finding valid contextual measures at the organizational, community, and societal levels that are appropriate to Korea's context remains a challenge, and these are rarely modeled simultaneously. Studies have rarely focused on composite and life-course measures. Conclusions: Future studies should develop and utilize valid compositional and contextual measures and appraise social patterns that vary across time, place, and culture using such measures. Studies should also consider multilevel influences, adding a focus on the interactions between different levels of intertwined SEP factors to advance the design of research. More attention should be given to composite and life-course measures.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7117-7120
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• 2013

Background: This study hypothesized living in a poor neighborhood decreased the cause specific survival in individuals suffering from carcinoid carcinomas. Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) carcinoid carcinoma data were used to identify potential socioeconomic disparities in outcome. Materials and Methods: This study analyzed socioeconomic, staging and treatment factors available in the SEER database for carcinoid carcinomas. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze time to events and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to compare survival curves. The Cox proportional hazard method was employed for multivariate analysis. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) were computed to screen the predictors for further analysis. Results: There were 38,546 patients diagnosed from 1973 to 2009 included in this study. The mean follow up time (S.D.) was 68.1 (70.7) months. SEER stage was the most predictive factor of outcome (ROC area of 0.79). 16.4% of patients were un-staged. Race/ethnicity, rural urban residence and county level family income were significant predictors of cause specific survival on multivariate analysis, these accounting for about 5% of the difference in actuarial cause specific survival at 20 years of follow up. Conclusions: This study found poorer cause specific survival of carcinoid carcinomas of individuals living in poor and rural neighborhoods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.487-496
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• 2020

This study introduces how GISs (Geographic Information Systems) are used to assess spatial disparities in urban green spaces in the Chicago. Green spaces provide us with a variety of benefits, namely environmental, economic, and physical benefits. This study seeks to explore socioeconomic relationships between green spaces and their surrounding communities and to evaluate spatial disparities from a variety of perspectives, such as health-related, socioeconomic, and physical environment factors. To achieve this goal, this study used spatial statistics, such as optimized hotspot analysis, network analysis, and space-time cluster analysis, which enable conclusions to be drawn from the geographic data. In particular, 12 variables within the three factors are used to assess spatial disparities in the benefits of the use of green spaces. Finally, the variables are standardized to rank the community areas and identify where the most vulnerable community areas or parks are. To evaluate the benefits given to the community areas, this study used the z- and composite scores, which are compared in the three different combinations. After identifying the most vulnerable community area, crime data is used to spatially understand when and where crimes occur near the parks selected. This work contributes to the work of urban planners who need to spatially evaluate community areas in considering the benefits of the uses of green spaces.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2016

Background: Many studies have explained regional disparities in health by socioeconomic status and healthcare resources, focusing on differences between urban and rural area. However some cities in Korea have the highest cardiovascular mortality, even though they have sufficient healthcare resources. So this study aims to confirm three hypotheses. (1) There are also regional health disparities between cities not only between urban and rural area. (2) It has different regional risk factors affecting cardiovascular mortality whether it is urban or rural area. (3) Besides socioeconomic and healthcare resources factors, there are remnant factors that affect regional cardiovascular mortality such as health behavior and physical environment. Methods: The subject of this study is 227 local authorities (si, gun, and gu). They were categorized into city (gu and si consisting of urban area) and non-city (gun consisting of rural area), and the city group was subdivided into 3 parts to reflect relative different city status: city 1 (Seoul, Gyeonggi cities), city 2 (Gwangyeoksi cities), and city 3 (other cities). We compared their mortalities among four groups by using analysis of variance analysis. And we explored what had contributed to it in whole authorities, city and non-city group by using multiple regression analysis. Results: Cardiovascular mortality is highest in city 2 group, lowest in city 1 group and middle in non-city group. Socioeconomic status and current smoking significantly increase mortality regardless of group. Other than those things, in city, there are some factors associated with cardiovascular mortality: walking practice(-), weight control attempt(-), deficiency of sports facilities(+), and high rate of factory lot(+). In non-city, there are other factors different from those of city: obesity prevalence(+), self-perceiving obesity(-), number of public health institutions(-), and road ratio(-). Conclusion: To reduce cardiovascular mortality and it's regional disparities, we need to consider differentiated approach, respecting regional character and different risk factors. Also, it is crucial to strengthen local government's capacity for practicing community health policy.