scholarly journals Assessing the impact on inequalities in use of orthodontic services of the introduction of an objective measure of treatment need in Northern Ireland

Author(s):  
Kishan Patel ◽  
Ciaran O'Neill

Background with rationalePrevious work has shown the existence of a sharp socio-economic gradient with respect to orthodontic services in Northern Ireland. The work demonstrated that those of lower socio-economic status had an odds ratio of 0.79 (95% CI 0.69 - 0.91) compared to those of higher socio-economic status with respect to the consumption of orthodontic services. In response to this, an objective measure of treatment need for such publicly funded services was introduced in 2014. Main AimThis study will use a record-linkage methodology to examine the relationship between use of publicly funded orthodontic care and the introduction of the index of treatment need (IOTN) in Northern Ireland in 2014. Methods/ApproachFollowing a similar approach to that used previously, data related to use of orthodontic services was linked to socio-economic characteristics from the 2011 Census for members of the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study. The relationship between socio-economic status and uptake of orthodontic services in the 3 years before and after the introduction of IOTN will be examined using an interrupted time series analysis as well as by the comparison of concentration indices across the study period. ResultsAll results must be cleared by the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency before release. We expect cleared results to be available imminently and anticipate these showing a change in the uptake of publicly funded orthodontic services as well as a reduction in the socio-economic gradient over time. ConclusionThe identification of inequalities in the use of publicly funded services requires an appropriate policy response. We anticipate that the introduction of IOTN as a criterion for access to publicly funded care will have successfully reduced the use of such services unrelated to need and the existence of inequalities in service use conditioned on need.

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1795-1795
Author(s):  
D. Bhugra

IntroductionWith the process of globalisation in full flow, the movement of people and products across the globe has brought a series of difficulties. With migration the socio-economic status of the individuals may change with the likelihood that this status will be lower rather than higher, although depending upon the reasons for migration this may change too.ObjectivesLiterature shows that low socio-economic status is associated with a higher level of psychiatric morbidity.AimsWhether migration acts as a mediator needs to be investigated further.MethodsVarious studies have shown that rates of psychosis are elevated in migrants though these rates are differentially increased in different groups indicating that factors other than migration may be at play.ResultsIn this presentation the literature and link the acculturation and cultural identity with post-migration experiences will be reviewed.ConclusionA link exists between the perceptions within cultures and level of economic development of what constitutes mental health. The state of advancement of mental health services of a country will certainly have a large impact on prevalence rates. Further investigation should be carried out to examine in greater depth the relationship between social inequality and disorder prevalence, as distinct from income inequality.


2017 ◽  
pp. 471-483
Author(s):  
Vladimir Mentus ◽  
Tatjana Mentus

The subject of this paper is stress exposure as one of the mechanisms through which the socioeconomic status may affect the health. First of all, the nature of the relationship between the socioeconomic status and the health quality, as well as possible mechanisms of relationship between them in general are presented. Then, an overview of the relationship between socioeconomic status and stress exposure is provided, as well as previous research results in this field. Finally, mechanisms by which stress exposure may affect health quality are presented. The largest number of studies indicates a positive correlation between socioeconomic position and health quality and a negative correlation between status and stress exposure, as well as health quality and stress exposure. The results regarding the relationship between socioeconomic status and stress exposure are in this respect the least consistent, mostly due to differences in the conceptualizations and operationalizations, poor representativeness of samples, and other methodological issues, as well as the characteristics of the examined populations themselves. Further, behaviors relevant to health quality, such as diet or physical activity, are to a great extent related to socioeconomic status and stress exposure. Whatever the mechanisms by which the interaction between these variables is explained may be, the socioeconomic status is probably the key for prevention and overcoming stressful situations, and thus, for health in general.


2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 461-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron D Sia ◽  
Lana J Williams ◽  
Julie A Pasco ◽  
Felice N Jacka ◽  
Sharon L Brennan-Olsen ◽  
...  

Background: The mean population mood has been demonstrated to strongly correlate with the prevalence of depression in European populations. Mean population mood has, therefore, been proposed as both a metric to measure the impact of population-level interventions to prevent depression and a target for public health policy. Aim: To demonstrate the relationship between mean population mood and the prevalence of depression using Australian data in order to broaden the applicability of this finding to the Australian population. Methods: We used data from the Geelong Osteoporosis Study to assess the relationship between population mean mood and depression. Participants reported mood symptoms via questionnaire (the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale or General Health Questionnaire-12). Depression was diagnosed by semi-structured clinical interview ( Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Non-patient Edition). Stratification by age and socio-economic status was used to create subpopulation groups. Socio-economic status was measured using Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage quintiles, an area-based measure based on Australian census data and published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The mean subpopulation questionnaire scores and subpopulation prevalence of depression were then analysed using regression and predictive models. Results: Mean subpopulation questionnaire scores correlated well with the prevalence of depression across socio-economic status groups in women but not age groups. Questionnaire scores tended to underestimate the prevalence of depression in the young and overestimate it in the elderly. Conclusion: The mean population mood was demonstrated to correlate with the population prevalence of depression in Australia for women, but not for men. Due to the issues of questionnaire validity and sample size in the oldest age groups, the age analysis is unlikely to be a representative of population characteristics. Further work to identify population determinants of mean mood could potentially create policy targets to reduce the prevalence of depression.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lou Safra ◽  
Coralie Chevallier ◽  
Amine Sijilmassi

A correlational study to test the relationship between socio-economic status and reactivity to threats.


Author(s):  
Małgorzata Paprocka-Borowicz ◽  
Mona Wiatr ◽  
Maria Ciałowicz ◽  
Wojciech Borowicz ◽  
Agnieszka Kaczmarek ◽  
...  

Stroke is a high-risk factor for depression. Neurological rehabilitation is greatly difficult and often does not include treatment of depression. The post-stroke depression plays an important role in the progress of treatment, health, and the life of the patient. The appropriate treatment of depression could improve the quality of life of the patient and their family. The study aimed to evaluate the impact of physical activity and socio-economic status of the patient on the effectiveness of recovery from depression and the severity of the symptoms of depression. The study was conducted with 40 patients after stroke aged 42–82 years, and included 10 women and 30 men who were hospitalized for two weeks. The severity of depression/anxiety (D/A) symptoms were evaluated two times; at admission and after two weeks of physical therapy. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) questionnaire was used for this purpose. Socio-economic status was evaluated by several simple questions. It was revealed that physical therapy has a positive influence on mental state. The severity of D/A symptoms after stroke is related to the financial status of the patients (2 = 11.198, p = 0.024). The state of health (2 = 20.57, p = 0.022) and physical fitness (2 = 12.95, p = 0.044) changed the severity of symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders. The kinesiotherapy in the group of patients with post-stroke depression had positive effects; however, economic and health conditions may influence the prognosis of the disease.


Author(s):  
Kudzanai Mateveke ◽  
Basant Singh ◽  
Alfred Chingono ◽  
E. Sibanda ◽  
Ian Machingura

HIV related stigma and discrimination is a known barrier for HIV prevention and care. We aimed to assess the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and HIV related stigma in Zimbabwe. This paper uses data from Project Accept, which examined the impact of community-based voluntary counseling and testing intervention on HIV incidence and stigma. Total of 2522 eligible participants responded to a psychometric assessment tool, which assessed HIV related stigma and discrimination attitudes on 4 point Likert scale. The tool measured three components of HIVrelated stigma: shame, blame and social isolation, perceived discrimination, and equity. Participants’ ownership of basic assets was used to assess the socio-economic status. Shame, blame and social isolation component of HIV related stigma was found to be significantly associated with medium [odds ratio (OR)=1.73, P<0.01] and low SES (OR=1.97, P<0.01), indicating more stigmatizing attitudes by participants belonging to medium and low SES in comparison to high SES. For HIV related stigma and discrimination programs to be effective, they should take into account the socio-economic context of target population.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
Björn Quanjer ◽  
Kristina Thompson

While in modern, high-income populations, obesity is associated with being from a low socio-economic background, this may not have always been the case. We test the relationship between obesity and educational level (as a proxy for socio-economic status) in a historical cohort of Dutch military conscripts, from the conscription years 1950–1979. We find that in the 1950s cohort, being in tertiary education was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of being overweight. In contrast, in the 1970s cohort, being in tertiary education was significantly associated with a decreased likelihood of being overweight. We find evidence that the prevalence of obesity remained broadly similar among more highly educated men, while it increased among men of a lower educational level. This likely contributed to the overall rise in the obesity rate. Our findings echo other studies that find a crossover in education’s relationship to BMI as populations become wealthier and obesity rates rise.


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