Inequalities in multimorbidity in South Africa

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorAtaguba, John Een_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-23T11:42:15Z
dc.date.available2015-11-23T11:42:15Z
dc.date.issued2013en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: Very little is known about socioeconomic related inequalities in multimorbidity, especially in developing countries. Traditionally, studies on health inequalities have mainly focused on a single disease condition or different conditions in isolation. This paper examines socioeconomic inequality in multimorbidity in illness and disability in South Africa between 2005 and 2008. METHODS: Data were drawn from the 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 rounds of the nationally representative annual South African General Household Surveys (GHS). Indirectly standardised concentration indices were used to assess socioeconomic inequality. A proxy index of socioeconomic status was constructed, for each year, using a selected set of variables that are available in all the GHS rounds. Multimorbidity in illness and disability were constructed using data on nine illnesses and six disabilities contained in the GHS. RESULTS: Multimorbidity affects a substantial number of South Africans. Most often, based on the nine illness conditions and six disability conditions considered, multimorbidity in illness and multimorbidity in disability are each found to involve only two conditions. In 2008 in South Africa, the multimorbidity that affected the greatest number of individuals (0.6% of the population) combined high blood pressure (BP) with at least one other illness. The combination of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other condition or conditions is the least reported (i.e. 0.02% of the population). Between 2005 and 2008, multimorbidity in illness and disability is more prevalent among the poor; in disabilities this is yet more consistent. The concentration index of multiple illnesses in 2005 and 2008 are 0.0009 and 0.0006 respectively. The corresponding values for multiple disabilities are 0.0006 and 0.0006 respectively. CONCLUSION: While there is a dearth of information on the socioeconomic distribution of multimorbidity in many developing countries, this paper has shown that its distribution in South Africa indicates that the poor bear a greater burden of multimorbidity. This is more so for disability than for illness. This paper argues that, given the high burden and skewed socioeconomic distribution of multimorbidity, there is a need to design policies to address this situation. Further, there is a need to design surveys that specifically assess multimorbidity.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationAtaguba, J. E. (2013). Inequalities in multimorbidity in South Africa. <i>International Journal for Equity in Health</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15234en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationAtaguba, John E "Inequalities in multimorbidity in South Africa." <i>International Journal for Equity in Health</i> (2013) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15234en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationAtaguba, J. E. (2013). Inequalities in multimorbidity in South Africa. Int J Equity Health, 12(1), 64.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Ataguba, John E AB - BACKGROUND: Very little is known about socioeconomic related inequalities in multimorbidity, especially in developing countries. Traditionally, studies on health inequalities have mainly focused on a single disease condition or different conditions in isolation. This paper examines socioeconomic inequality in multimorbidity in illness and disability in South Africa between 2005 and 2008. METHODS: Data were drawn from the 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 rounds of the nationally representative annual South African General Household Surveys (GHS). Indirectly standardised concentration indices were used to assess socioeconomic inequality. A proxy index of socioeconomic status was constructed, for each year, using a selected set of variables that are available in all the GHS rounds. Multimorbidity in illness and disability were constructed using data on nine illnesses and six disabilities contained in the GHS. RESULTS: Multimorbidity affects a substantial number of South Africans. Most often, based on the nine illness conditions and six disability conditions considered, multimorbidity in illness and multimorbidity in disability are each found to involve only two conditions. In 2008 in South Africa, the multimorbidity that affected the greatest number of individuals (0.6% of the population) combined high blood pressure (BP) with at least one other illness. The combination of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other condition or conditions is the least reported (i.e. 0.02% of the population). Between 2005 and 2008, multimorbidity in illness and disability is more prevalent among the poor; in disabilities this is yet more consistent. The concentration index of multiple illnesses in 2005 and 2008 are 0.0009 and 0.0006 respectively. The corresponding values for multiple disabilities are 0.0006 and 0.0006 respectively. CONCLUSION: While there is a dearth of information on the socioeconomic distribution of multimorbidity in many developing countries, this paper has shown that its distribution in South Africa indicates that the poor bear a greater burden of multimorbidity. This is more so for disability than for illness. This paper argues that, given the high burden and skewed socioeconomic distribution of multimorbidity, there is a need to design policies to address this situation. Further, there is a need to design surveys that specifically assess multimorbidity. DA - 2013 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1475-9276-12-64 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - International Journal for Equity in Health LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2013 T1 - Inequalities in multimorbidity in South Africa TI - Inequalities in multimorbidity in South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15234 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15234
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-12-64
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationAtaguba JE. Inequalities in multimorbidity in South Africa. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2013; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15234.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentHealth Economics Uniten_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.holder2013 Ataguba; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourceInternational Journal for Equity in Healthen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.equityhealthj.com/en_ZA
dc.subject.otherMultimorbidityen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSocioeconomic inequalityen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.titleInequalities in multimorbidity in South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Ataguba_Inequalities_in_multimorbidity_2013.pdf
Size:
967.39 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles