IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujoag/v20y2023i1d10.1007_s10433-023-00781-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evolution of the income-related gap in health with old age: evidence from 20 countries in European and Chinese panel datasets

Author

Listed:
  • Mengling Cheng

    (University of Lausanne)

  • Nicolas Sommet

    (University of Lausanne)

  • Daniela S. Jopp

    (University of Lausanne
    University of Lausanne)

  • Dario Spini

    (University of Lausanne
    University of Lausanne)

Abstract

Some studies show that the protective effect of higher income on health weakens with old age (age-as-leveller pattern), whereas others show that it strengthens with old age (cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Many existing studies are limited in that they use single-country and/or single-timepoint designs. To overcome these limitations and better understand how the income-health gradient evolves in older age, we used cross-national and longitudinal data of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004–2019, N = 73,407) and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011–2018, N = 10,067). We operationalised health using multimorbidity and three alternative indicators (functional disability, mobility disability, and memory). We performed Poisson growth curve modelling to capture the between-participant effects of age and the within-participant effects of aging. We obtained three consistent and robust findings for Europe (patterns were observed in most countries) and China. First, the protective effect of higher income on multimorbidity, functional disability, and mobility disability was weaker for older than for younger adults (between-participant age-as-leveller pattern). Second, only the protective effect of higher income on mobility disability weakened over the later life course (within-participant age-as-leveller pattern). Third, the protective effect of higher income on memory was stronger for older than for younger adults and strengthened over the later life course (between-participant and within-participant cumulative advantage/disadvantage pattern). Longitudinal data, growth curve modelling distinguishing the between-participant from within-participant effect, and adjustments for potential confounders based on the hypothesised causal structure enabled us to better navigate the landscape of causal inference. Findings suggest that the income-related gap in physical health but not in cognitive health narrows in old age for both Europe and China.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengling Cheng & Nicolas Sommet & Daniela S. Jopp & Dario Spini, 2023. "Evolution of the income-related gap in health with old age: evidence from 20 countries in European and Chinese panel datasets," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:20:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10433-023-00781-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-023-00781-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-023-00781-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10433-023-00781-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rasmus Hoffmann, 2011. "Illness, Not Age, Is the Leveler of Social Mortality Differences in Old Age," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 66(3), pages 374-379.
    2. Fairbrother, Malcolm, 2014. "Two Multilevel Modeling Techniques for Analyzing Comparative Longitudinal Survey Datasets," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 119-140, April.
    3. Scott Lynch, 2003. "Cohort and life-course patterns in the relationship between education and health: A hierarchical approach," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(2), pages 309-331, May.
    4. Johan Rehnberg & Jessica Kelley, 2020. "What Levels the Association Between Income and Mortality in Later Life: Age or Health Decline?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 75(2), pages 426-435.
    5. Kim, Jinyoung & Durden, Emily, 2007. "Socioeconomic status and age trajectories of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 2489-2502, December.
    6. Bates, Douglas & Mächler, Martin & Bolker, Ben & Walker, Steve, 2015. "Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 67(i01).
    7. Stéphane Cullati & Matthias Kliegel & Eric Widmer, 2018. "Development of reserves over the life course and onset of vulnerability in later life," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 551-558, August.
    8. Banister, Judith & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2005. "China, Economic Development and Mortality Decline," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 21-41, January.
    9. Liliya Leopold, 2018. "Education and Physical Health Trajectories in Later Life: A Comparative Study," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 901-927, June.
    10. Stephanie A. Robert & Dasha Cherepanov & Mari Palta & Nancy Cross Dunham & David Feeny & Dennis G. Fryback, 2009. "Socioeconomic Status and Age Variations in Health-Related Quality of Life: Results From the National Health Measurement Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(3), pages 378-389.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Leoni & Martin Spielauer & Peter Reschenhofer, 2020. "Soziale Unterschiede, Lebenserwartung und Gesundheitsausgaben im Lebensverlauf," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 66626, April.
    2. Leopold, Liliya & van Valkengoed, Irene G.M. & Engelhardt, Henriette, 2023. "Education and age trajectories of chronic conditions: Are tests of the cumulative advantage and disadvantage hypothesis biased by underreporting?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    3. Ovrum, Arnstein & Gustavsen, Geir Waehler & Rickertsen, Kyrre, 2012. "Health inequalities over the adult life course: the role of lifestyle choices," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 125862, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Andrew Bell & Malcolm Fairbrother & Kelvyn Jones, 2019. "Fixed and random effects models: making an informed choice," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 1051-1074, March.
    5. Götz Rohwer, 2016. "A Note on the Dependence of Health on Age and Education," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(2), pages 325-335, April.
    6. Virginia Zarulli, 2016. "Unobserved Heterogeneity of Frailty in the Analysis of Socioeconomic Differences in Health and Mortality," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 55-72, February.
    7. Liliya Leopold, 2018. "Education and Physical Health Trajectories in Later Life: A Comparative Study," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 901-927, June.
    8. Jens Hoebel & Alexander Rommel & Sara Lena Schröder & Judith Fuchs & Enno Nowossadeck & Thomas Lampert, 2017. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health and Perceived Unmet Needs for Healthcare among the Elderly in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, September.
    9. van Kippersluis, Hans & O'Donnell, Owen & van Doorslaer, Eddy & Van Ourti, Tom, 2010. "Socioeconomic differences in health over the life cycle in an Egalitarian country," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 428-438, February.
    10. Delaruelle, Katrijn & Buffel, Veerle & Bracke, Piet, 2015. "Educational expansion and the education gradient in health: A hierarchical age-period-cohort analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 79-88.
    11. Liliya Leopold & Thomas Leopold, 2016. "Education and Health across Lives and Cohorts: A Study of Cumulative Advantage in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 835, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Liliya Leopold, 2019. "Health Measurement and Health Inequality Over the Life Course: A Comparison of Self-rated Health, SF-12, and Grip Strength," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 763-784, April.
    13. van Kippersluis, Hans & Van Ourti, Tom & O'Donnell, Owen & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2009. "Health and income across the life cycle and generations in Europe," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 818-830, July.
    14. Kim, Jinyoung & Miech, Richard, 2009. "The Black-White difference in age trajectories of functional health over the life course," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 717-725, February.
    15. Asakawa, Keiko & Senthilselvan, Ambikaipakan & Feeny, David & Johnson, Jeffrey & Rolfson, Darryl, 2012. "Trajectories of health-related quality of life differ by age among adults: Results from an eight-year longitudinal study," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 207-218.
    16. Tilmann Soest & Michal Kozák & Rubén Rodríguez-Cano & Sam Fluit & Laura Cortés-García & Vidar S. Ulset & E. F. Haghish & Anders Bakken, 2022. "Adolescents’ psychosocial well-being one year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(2), pages 217-228, February.
    17. Martin Siegel & Markus Luengen & Stephanie Stock, 2013. "On age-specific variations in income-related inequalities in diabetes, hypertension and obesity," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(1), pages 33-41, February.
    18. JANSSENS, Jochen & DE CORTE, Annelies & SÖRENSEN, Kenneth, 2016. "Water distribution network design optimisation with respect to reliability," Working Papers 2016007, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    19. Raymond Hernandez & Elizabeth A. Pyatak & Cheryl L. P. Vigen & Haomiao Jin & Stefan Schneider & Donna Spruijt-Metz & Shawn C. Roll, 2021. "Understanding Worker Well-Being Relative to High-Workload and Recovery Activities across a Whole Day: Pilot Testing an Ecological Momentary Assessment Technique," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-17, October.
    20. Valentina Krenz & Arjen Alink & Tobias Sommer & Benno Roozendaal & Lars Schwabe, 2023. "Time-dependent memory transformation in hippocampus and neocortex is semantic in nature," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:20:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10433-023-00781-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.