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Published in: International Journal of Public Health 1/2013

01-02-2013 | Original Article

Socioeconomic position and later life prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and visual impairment in Nakuru, Kenya

Authors: George B. Ploubidis, Wanjiku Mathenge, Bianca De Stavola, Emily Grundy, Allen Foster, Hannah Kuper

Published in: International Journal of Public Health | Issue 1/2013

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Abstract

Objectives

We examined the extent to which the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and later life prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and visual impairment in Nakuru, Kenya is mediated by health-related behaviour.

Methods

We used data from a community survey of 4,314 participants sampled from urban and rural areas in Nakuru, Kenya. Structural equation modelling was employed to estimate the direct and indirect—via health-related behaviour—effects of SEP on the three health outcomes.

Results

The accumulation of material resources was positively associated with hypertension and diabetes, whereas both education and material resources had a negative association with the prevalence of visual impairment. However, the observed health inequalities were not due to variation between SEP groups in health-related behaviour.

Conclusions

The pattern of associations between education, material resources and the three health outcomes varied, suggesting that in Kenya, unlike the observed pattern of inequalities in high income countries, different dimensions of SEP provide different aspects of protection as well as risk. Smoking and alcohol use did not appear to mediate the observed associations, in contrast with countries past the epidemiologic transition.
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Metadata
Title
Socioeconomic position and later life prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and visual impairment in Nakuru, Kenya
Authors
George B. Ploubidis
Wanjiku Mathenge
Bianca De Stavola
Emily Grundy
Allen Foster
Hannah Kuper
Publication date
01-02-2013
Publisher
SP Birkhäuser Verlag Basel
Published in
International Journal of Public Health / Issue 1/2013
Print ISSN: 1661-8556
Electronic ISSN: 1661-8564
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0389-2

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