self-rated health inequalities and potential determinants自我评估健康不平等和潜在的决定因素.pdfVIP

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6, 2456-2469; doi:10.3390/ijerph6092456 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 /journal/ijerph Article Self-Rated Health: Inequalities and Potential Determinants Evangelos C. Alexopoulos 1 and Mary Geitona 2,* 1 Department of Public Health, Medical School, University of Patras, 26500 Rio Patras, Greece; E-Mail: ecalexop@upatras.gr 2 Department of Economics, University of Thessaly, 38221 Volos, Greece * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: geitona@econ.uth.gr; Tel.: +30-210-6211591; Fax: +30-210-6030571. Received: 5 August 2009 / Accepted: 9 September 2009 / Published: 15 September 2009 Abstract: Understanding social inequalities in health is of great importance; it provides the conceptual frame for investigating the social factors that affect health, together with empirical evidence for improving population health. Individual and socioeconomic data, disease related conditions and self rated health (SRH) ratings were collected from a representative sample of 1,000 participants in order to study health inequalities in Greece. 20.8% of men and 37.2% of women reported poor health status. Significant inequalities in SRH were observed. Strong associations of poor SRH with gender, age, insur