Abstract
Aim
The socioeconomic status (SES) in Taiwan has been greatly improved after decades of socioeconomic development. However, health inequality still exists. This study aims to explore the trend of socioeconomic development in three counties which were more impoverished compared to others in central Taiwan during 2000–2015 and to analyze the correlation between SES and health for investigating the existence of geographical health inequalities and related mechanisms.
Subjects and methods
This study examined four independent variables of economic development indicators and three independent variables of social development indicators, as well as the main outcome of standardized mortality rate (SMR) using data from official government publications. Descriptive and panel data analyses were applied and a geographic information system used for visualized presentation of the regional mortality changes.
Results
The results showed that the all-cause SMRs were statistically significantly different within the three counties (p = 0.002). In 2015, the SMR of Yunlin, Nantou, and Changhua were 5.07‰, 5.01‰, and 4.46‰, respectively. We found that the difference in SMRs among townships was not only significant but also increased year by year. Findings from the panel data analysis also suggested that the higher the degree of socioeconomic development, the lower the SMR regardless of the county or township level, and that education was the most important factor.
Conclusion
We can say that there is still health inequality in central Taiwan and we advocate the importance of universal education, especially for the disadvantaged, to achieve the goal of health for all.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Professor Tung-Liang Chiang, my teacher and mentor in the Master of Public Health Degree Program, National Taiwan University, who gave me the golden opportunity to complete this wonderful master’s thesis on the topic of health inequality and taught me a lot. I would also like to thank my research colleagues (Wan-Lin Chiang, Chug-Tung Kuo, Ying-Hsuan Chen, and Yi-Han Chang), best friends, and my family who helped me a lot in finalizing this study.
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Liu, YT. Associations between socioeconomic development and mortality—a small area panel data analysis in Taiwan, 2000–2015. J Public Health (Berl.) 29, 145–157 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01104-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01104-1