{"title":"Association between family economic decision-making power and survival outcomes among older adults in China: A population-based longitudinal study","authors":"Liyong Lu , Ting Chen , Sicheng Li , Tianjiao Lan","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study examines the association between family economic decision-making power and survival outcomes among older adults.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Data were drawn from the China Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 2005 to 2018. Family economic decision-making power was assessed based on participants’ self-reported influence over household financial matters, categorized as: “making decisions on almost all household expenditures”, “deciding on non-essential spending”, “only deciding on personal expenditures”, and “having no decision-making power over household spending”. Survival status and date of death were determined through interviews with close family members during each survey round. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyze the relationship between family economic decision-making authority and survival outcomes among older adults using longitudinal follow-up data. Subgroup analyses were conducted to identify vulnerable populations.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The study included 10,443 older adults, of whom 5606 (53.68%) died during the follow-up period, with a median survival time of 7 years. Compared to those with full decision-making authority, the hazard ratios (95% CI) were 1.02 (0.87–1.20) for those with authority over non-essential spending, 1.22 (1.07–1.38) for those with authority over personal spending, and 1.24 (1.04–1.47) for those with no decision-making power. The impact of low decision-making authority on survival was modified by factors such as gender, occupation before age 60, household economic status, experience of child loss, and physical labor.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Low family economic decision-making power is associated with an increased risk of mortality. Promoting active participation in financial decisions may enhance health outcomes. However, the study is limited by its focus on Chinese data, challenges in establishing causal relationships, and the measurement of decision-making power at a single point in time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101749"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11780127/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143068834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trends in educational inequalities in all-course mortality and deaths of despair in Swedish youths 1990–2018","authors":"Björn Högberg , Simone Scarpa , Solveig Petersen","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101748","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101748","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Bakground</h3><div>Growing educational disparities in mortality due to suicide, drug overdose, or alcohol-related liver disease – or “deaths of despair” (DoD) – have received increased attention in research and public debate. However, no study has investigated educational differences in despair-related mortality outside of North America. Thus, the aim this study was to investigate changes in the association between academic achievement in compulsory school and subsequent all-cause mortality (ACM) and DoD between 1990 and 2018 in Swedish youths.</div></div><div><h3>Data and methods</h3><div>Register data on all students graduating from compulsory school in Sweden between 1990 and 2010 were used (N = 2 252 938). Students were followed for a maximum of 8 years using discrete time proportional hazard models. Academic achievement was measured by grades at the end of compulsory school.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>ACM declined for medium/high achieving but not for low-achieving youths, while DoD increased slightly for medium/high achieving and markedly for low-achieving youths, resulting in growing achievement-related disparities in both types of mortality. The trends were primarily driven by native-born youth and girls.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The trends in Swedish youths resemble the trends in the American working-age population, but partly contrasts with corresponding trends in other European countries. Future research should investigate if the underlying causes that have been emphasized in the American context – socio-economic transformations and a greater supply of drugs – have also contributed to the Swedish trends.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101748"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11780141/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143068900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Broadband internet access as a social determinant of health in the early COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. counties","authors":"Spencer Allen","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101747","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101747","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent work suggests that internet access was key in delivering life-saving health information about the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper expands on these findings by focusing on the early pandemic in the United States to examine the role of internet access on masking and COVID-19 incidence and mortality. Using county-level data from the American Community Survey, The New York Times, and other sources, weighted OLS regression models with state fixed-effects were used to predict the association of internet access on self-reported masking in July 2020 and COVID-19 incidence and mortality during multiple periods from July–October 2020. Results suggest that internet access is associated with a substantial decrease in a county's COVID-19 incidence and mortality. Most strikingly, models predict that counties with the highest internet access had less than 50% of the COVID-19 mortality as counties with the lowest internet access from July–October 2020. Meanwhile, though the association between internet access and masking is positive and significant, the effect size net of control variables is small. In sum, this paper finds that internet access is associated with COVID-19 outcomes in ways beyond information about masking alone.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101747"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11764479/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143048286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sohee Jung , Hwa-Young Lee , Seung-ah Choe , Hannah Oh , S.V. Subramanian , Rockli Kim
{"title":"Maternal media exposure and child anthropometric failures across 40 low- and middle-income countries","authors":"Sohee Jung , Hwa-Young Lee , Seung-ah Choe , Hannah Oh , S.V. Subramanian , Rockli Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101746","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101746","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To examine the association between maternal exposure to various types of media and child anthropometric failures, and whether this association varies by mothers’ socioeconomic status (SES) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study analyzed Demographic and Health Survey data from 40 LMICs (2010–2024). The independent variable was defined as exposure to any mass media (i.e., newspapers/magazines, radio, television) at least once a week for the primary analysis, and mobile phone ownership and internet access were considered for secondary analyses. Three types of child anthropometric failures (i.e., stunting, underweight, wasting) were constructed based on the WHO child growth standards. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted to examine the association between maternal media exposure and child anthropometric failures, as well as the moderating effects of mothers’ socioeconomic status.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Among 439,639 children aged under five, 13% were stunted, 23% were underweight, and 13% had wasting. Overall, 53% of mothers were exposed to any mass media, which was significantly associated with reduced odds of child stunting (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.88–0.92), underweight (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.87–0.91), and wasting (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.90–0.96). The same was true for maternal mobile phone ownership and internet access. For specific types of media, the association was more pronounced among uneducated women and wealthier households.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>This study underscores the potential importance of media-based interventions in improving child undernutrition in LMICs. Media exposure is an important channel for health information dissemination and empowerment especially for women with no education. At the same time, improvements in the overall living standards are necessary to induce and sustain healthy behaviors to ensure optimal growth among children.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101746"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143180447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Per Kåks , Mats Målqvist , Håkan Forsberg , Andreas Alm Fjellborg
{"title":"Neighborhood income inequality, maternal relative deprivation and neonatal health in Sweden: A cross-sectional study using individually defined multi-scale contexts","authors":"Per Kåks , Mats Målqvist , Håkan Forsberg , Andreas Alm Fjellborg","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101745","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101745","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101745"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11755026/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143029990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ingrid Giesinger , Emmalin Buajitti , Arjumand Siddiqi , Peter M. Smith , Rahul G. Krishnan , Laura C. Rosella
{"title":"The association between total social exposure and incident multimorbidity: A population-based cohort study","authors":"Ingrid Giesinger , Emmalin Buajitti , Arjumand Siddiqi , Peter M. Smith , Rahul G. Krishnan , Laura C. Rosella","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101743","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101743","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Multimorbidity, the co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions, is associated with the social determinants of health. Using comprehensive linked population-representative data, we sought to understand the combined effect of multiple social determinants on multimorbidity incidence in Ontario, Canada.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Ontario respondents aged 20–55 in 2001–2011 cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey were linked to administrative health data ascertain multimorbidity status until 2022. Additive total social exposure (TSE) was generated by summing 12 measures of social disadvantage captured from the survey. Weighted-additive TSE included 15 measures of social disadvantage summed across 5 equally weighted domains. Hazard ratios for the association between each TSE measure and multimorbidity were estimated using competing risk Cox-proportional hazards models. All analyses were sex-stratified.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Both additive and weighted-additive TSE were associated with an increased risk of multimorbidity among females and males. A social gradient was observed for multimorbidity risk in all models. While adjusted models were attenuated, an increased risk of multimorbidity was observed among those experiencing the most social disadvantage, compared to those with the least social disadvantage in additive (HR Females = 2.16; 95%CI = 1.63, 2.86; HR Males = 1.90; 95%CI = 1.52, 2.38) and weighted-additive (HR Females = 1.94; 95%CI = 1.49, 2.53; HR Males = 1.72; 95%CI = 1.41, 2.10) models. The observed social gradient was retained.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These findings demonstrate the importance of considering the cumulative effects of multiple social determinants of health on multimorbidity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101743"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11753910/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143029914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mingean Park , Sujeong Park , Youngeun Lee , Jonathan Lee
{"title":"Exploring the association between emergency hospital services and homicide incidents in Pennsylvania","authors":"Mingean Park , Sujeong Park , Youngeun Lee , Jonathan Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101744","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101744","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Homicide is a significant measure of quality of life and serves as a reference point for a comparison between neighborhoods. Despite its unique relevance to homicide, the role of medical resources, specifically emergency hospital services, has been underexplored in the literature. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between emergency hospital availability and homicide rates across counties in Pennsylvania, using advanced spatiotemporal modeling techniques. While controlling for socio-economic characteristics and spatial autocorrelation, the analysis suggests that greater access to emergency hospital services is associated with lower homicide rates. These findings call for the importance of medical resources in both future homicide research and health policy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101744"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11751571/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143025291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Income rank and life satisfaction: Examining the relationship with wealth inequality among middle-aged and older indian adults","authors":"Tapasya Raj , Srikanth Reddy Umenthala","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101740","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101740","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The relationship between income and subjective well-being (SWB) has intrigued scholars for decades. Richard Easterlin’s groundbreaking research in the 1970s revealed a paradox: while higher individual incomes within countries are associated with greater happiness, this trend does not hold across countries. This paradox highlights the significance of relative income over absolute income. Subsequent research has consistently demonstrated that relative income, or one’s income rank compared to others, has a more substantial impact on happiness than absolute income. Studies across various contexts have corroborated this finding, emphasizing the importance of social comparisons and status. This study investigates how wealth inequality moderates the association between income rank and life satisfaction in India. Utilizing data from the Longitudinal Ageing Survey of India (LASI), we examine how regional wealth inequality influences the relationship between income rank and well-being. Our analysis reveals that higher relative rank is associated with increased life satisfaction, while greater wealth inequality diminishes it. The interaction between income rank and wealth inequality is significant, indicating that relative income matters more in highly unequal regions. India’s vast economic growth and rising inequality make it a crucial case for understanding global inequality dynamics. Our findings suggest that in regions with higher wealth inequality, the association between relative rank on life satisfaction is magnified, highlighting the importance of social comparisons in well-being assessments. This research contributes to the broader discourse on income, inequality, and well-being, offering insights into a non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) context and emphasizing the relevance of relative rank in shaping life satisfaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101740"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11742318/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143013917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Empirical design of population health strategies accounting for the distribution of population health risks","authors":"Ayumi Hashimoto , Hideki Hashimoto","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101741","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101741","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent discussions in epidemiology have emphasised the need to estimate the heterogeneous effects of risk factors across the distribution of health outcomes for better aetiological understanding of the determinants of population health. We propose using quantile regression-based decomposition to expand the empirical discussion on population health intervention strategies for health equity by incorporating population homogeneity/heterogeneity in the risk–outcome association. We theorised that the ‘proportionate universalism’ approach presumes population homogeneity in the risk–outcome association with varying risk intensities, which decomposition analysis shows as the ‘covariates part’ between groups. Conversely, the ‘targeted approach’ assumes population heterogeneity in the risk–outcome association across the outcome range, which the analysis identifies as the ‘coefficients part’. Our demonstration, using a case of education-related disparity in dietary behaviours, exemplified that differences between education groups were mainly explained by the coefficients part. This finding suggests heterogeneity in their risk profiles, necessitating a ‘targeted approach’ across outcome quantiles to close the gap. The ‘proportionate universalism’ strategy could be partially applied to specific quantile segments where the covariates part remained significant as a supplementary intervention. However, simply increasing the magnitude of certain risk factors (e.g., income) showed conflicting directions between covariates and coefficients parts. Structural modifications of risk–outcome associations would therefore be more equitable. We also discuss the potential strengths and limitations of the analysis, suggesting that it may be complemented by data-driven methods using machine learning to identify discriminating risk factors for population health equity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101741"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11729676/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142985067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of digital infrastructure construction on older adults' cognitive health: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China","authors":"Jun-qi Ma , Li Sheng","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101739","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101739","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The digital infrastructure has profoundly changed people's daily lives and health outcomes. However, the causal effect of digital infrastructure on cognitive health remains unclear. The study employs the “Broadband China” policy as a reliable proxy for digital infrastructure, using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) five waves panel data from 2011 to 2020 and a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method to investigate the causal impact of digital infrastructure construction on the cognitive health in Chinese older adults. We find that digital infrastructure construction has a significant positive effect on the cognitive health of older adults, and the dynamic DID results confirm a persistent effect. Mechanism analysis shows that digital infrastructure improves cognitive health by increasing social interaction, health promotion behaviors (including medical insurance participation and physical exercise), and reducing medical costs. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the cognitive health-improving effect of digital infrastructure construction is stronger among older adults living in urban areas and high-GDP cities, male, low and middle-aged, and highly educated. Our research findings provide empirical evidence for improving cognitive health and healthy aging among older adults through the development of digital infrastructure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47780,"journal":{"name":"Ssm-Population Health","volume":"29 ","pages":"Article 101739"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11714668/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142956765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}