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How Much Money Is Enough? Poverty and Health in Older People

  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objectives

We examined the relationship between absolute income, adequacy of disposable income, and self-rated health among participants aged 60 years and over.

Design

Cross sectional study.

Setting

Community living older people in Hong Kong.

Participants

Older people aged 60 years and over in five districts in Hong Kong.

Measurements

Data from a cross sectional survey of age friendly characteristics across five districts of Hong Kong carried out using stratified random sampling across a broad range of socioeconomic attributes.

Results

Self-rated health showed a gradient for both absolute and adequacy of disposable income. The OR for the association between having just enough, or insufficient disposable income and poor health was higher: 2.0 and 3.6 respectively, and higher than that for absolute income (OR 1.8), and remained significant after adjustment for absolute income. No association between absolute income and self-rated health was observed among women. These findings suggest that adequacy of disposable income provide a stronger association with self-rated health compared with absolute income among older people aged 60 years and over, particularly for women. The absolute income corresponding to what is considered adequate disposable income lies between HK$4000–10000.

Conclusion

Adequacy of disposable income may be a better indicator than absolute income for older people in examining the relationship with health outcomes, particularly for older women.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Jean Woo

  2. Institute of Ageing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

    Jean Woo, R. Yu, K. Cheung & E. T. C. Lai

Authors
  1. Jean Woo
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  2. R. Yu
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  3. K. Cheung
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  4. E. T. C. Lai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean Woo.

Ethics declarations

The study was approved by the Survey and Behavioural Ethics Committee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Additional information

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Woo, J., Yu, R., Cheung, K. et al. How Much Money Is Enough? Poverty and Health in Older People. J Nutr Health Aging 24, 1111–1115 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1444-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1444-y

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