Social disparities in impairment prevalence, a population-based study.

Abstract

There are still contradictions and ambiguities in knowledge about the association of visual, hearing, and physical problems with sex, race, income, and education level. This study estimated the prevalence and trace social, racial and sex inequalities according to the type of impairment: visual, hearing and physical. A cross-sectional, population-based study was conducted with data from 3,021 individuals from ISACamp 2014/15. We estimated the prevalence of the three impairments according to age group, sex, race, income, education and health insurance and the prevalence ratios adjusted, using multiple Poisson regression. It was observed that 15.2% of individuals reported visual impairment, 8.1% hearing and 2.1% physical. Inequality was detected according to education level in persons with visual and physical impairments, gender inequality was observed in cases of physical impairment and racial inequality only in visual impairment. It was possible to understand the profile of persons with impairment considering the underlying social inequalities and providing opportunities for a more adequate design of public policies and health care.