IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nim/nimawp/67-2017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Growing old, unhealthy and unequal: an exploratory study on the health of Portuguese individuals aged 50+

Author

Abstract

In this study we provide evidence on the health status and the role of gender and socioeconomic inequality in self-reported health and morbidity status amongst the elderly in Portugal. We find a negative self-perception of health status amongst the elderly; high prevalence of chronic diseases since an earlier age; high level of depression problems reported by women; and high levels of disability amongst the oldest old. There are, nonetheless, substantial differences in health status between age groups that suggest a potential for health gains in the future. The prevalence of chronic diseases, mental problems and high disability requires an adequate (re)organization of healthcare delivery to the elderly. Moreover, the evidence presented clearly calls for a gendered perspective on health policy, particularly in mental health policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Correia Dias & Priscila Ferreira & Lígia Costa Pinto & Marieta Valente & Paula Veiga, 2017. "Growing old, unhealthy and unequal: an exploratory study on the health of Portuguese individuals aged 50+," NIMA Working Papers 67, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho, revised Jun 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:nim:nimawp:67/2017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www3.eeg.uminho.pt/publications/NIMAwp67.pdf
    File Function: full text
    Download Restriction: none

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fredrik Gregersen, 2014. "The impact of ageing on health care expenditures: a study of steepening," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 979-989, December.
    2. Giorgio Brunello & Margherita Fort & Nicole Schneeweis & Rudolf Winter‐Ebmer, 2016. "The Causal Effect of Education on Health: What is the Role of Health Behaviors?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(3), pages 314-336, March.
    3. Eddy van Doorslaer & Xander Koolman, 2004. "Explaining the differences in income‐related health inequalities across European countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 609-628, July.
    4. Stephane Jacobzone & E. Cambois & E. Chaplain & J. M. Robine, 1999. "The Health of Older Persons in OECD Countries: Is it Improving Fast Enough to Compensate for Population Ageing?," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 37, OECD Publishing.
    5. D. Cooper & W. D. McCausland & I. Theodossiou, 2008. "Unemployed, uneducated and sick: the effects of socio‐economic status on health duration in the European Union," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 171(4), pages 939-952, October.
    6. Contoyannis, Paul & Jones, Andrew M., 2004. "Socio-economic status, health and lifestyle," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 965-995, September.
    7. Peter Zweifel & Stefan Felder & Markus Meiers, 1999. "Ageing of population and health care expenditure: a red herring?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(6), pages 485-496, September.
    8. Lindgren, Björn, 2016. "The Rise in Life Expectancy, Health Trends among the Elderly, and the Demand for Health and Social Care," Working Papers 142, National Institute of Economic Research.
    9. Gary Solon & Steven J. Haider & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2015. "What Are We Weighting For?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 301-316.
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10510 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Bjorn Lindgren, 2016. "The Rise in Life Expectancy, Health Trends among the Elderly, and the Demand for Care - A Selected Literature Review," NBER Working Papers 22521, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Paula Veiga, 2005. "Income-related health inequality in Portugal," NIMA Working Papers 28, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    13. Arber, Sara & Ginn, Jay, 1993. "Gender and inequalities in health in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 33-46, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ageing; health status; inequality;

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nim:nimawp:67/2017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (NIMA). General contact details of provider: http://nima.eeg.uminho.pt/ .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.