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Are spouses’ socio-economic classifications interchangeable? Examining the consequences of a commonly used practice in studies on social inequalities in health

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

Indicators of socio-economic position are not always available for all subjects. To avoid losses of large parts of study populations, missing data are replaced by spouses’ information. Despite this commonly practiced solution, systematic analyses of the consequences on substantive results of studies are rare. We examined the consequences of assigning the educational position of subjects to their partners.

Methods

German statutory health insurance data from 2005 (N = 1,801,744) and 2011 (N = 1,987,707) were used. Diagnoses of type 2 diabetes were used as outcome. Effects were examined in terms of differences in diabetes prevalence and by the reproduction of social gradients in women and men as compared to their partners.

Results

Social gradients were reproduced for subjects and for their partners, but diabetes prevalences were higher in partners.

Conclusions

From a pragmatic point of view the practice of replacing missing information by spouses’ information turned out as viable. However, the usefulness of this solution has to be examined in every case anew, because it may not be suitable for every health-related outcome.

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Acknowledgments

The permission of the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Niedersachsen (AOK NDS—Statutory Health Insurance of Lower Saxony) to work with the health insurance data is greatly acknowledged. In particular the support of Jürgen Peter and Sveja Eberhard (AOK NDS) made it possible to carry out the project the data were derived from.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Sociology Unit, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany

    Denise Muschik, Jelena Jaunzeme & Siegfried Geyer

Authors
  1. Denise Muschik
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  2. Jelena Jaunzeme
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  3. Siegfried Geyer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Siegfried Geyer.

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Funding

The work done by DM was funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony as part of the doctoral program GESA: health-related care for a self-determined life in old age—theoretical concepts, users’ needs and responsiveness of the health care system. The work done by JJ was funded by the AOK NDS—Statutory Health Insurance of Lower Saxony as part of a project on morbidity compression.

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Muschik, D., Jaunzeme, J. & Geyer, S. Are spouses’ socio-economic classifications interchangeable? Examining the consequences of a commonly used practice in studies on social inequalities in health. Int J Public Health 60, 953–960 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0744-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0744-1

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