Socioeconomic position and health-seeking behavior for hearing loss among older adults in England

Benova, Lenka, Grundy, Emily ORCID: 0000-0002-9633-1116 and Ploubidis, George B. (2015) Socioeconomic position and health-seeking behavior for hearing loss among older adults in England. Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 70 (3). pp. 443-452. ISSN 1079-5014

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Abstract

Objective. To examine whether socioeconomic position (SEP) is associated with progression in the health-seeking process for hearing loss. Method. Logistic regression of data from a cross-sectional survey representative of noninstitutionalized, 50 years and older population of England (ELSA wave 2, 2004). Using self-reported hearing difficulty as starting point, we examined the association between SEP and health-seeking behaviors in 6 stages leading to hearing aid acquisition and use. Results. Higher SEP was associated with lower odds of self-reported hearing difficulty, adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.83–0.91, p < .001). There was marginal negative association between higher SEP and receiving hearing aid recommendation (adjusted OR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.78–0.99, p = .05). SEP was not associated with any other stage of health-seeking behavior. Discussion. Among the noninstitutionalized older population of England, SEP-related inequalities exist in the prevalence of self-reported hearing loss. However, SEP is not strongly associated with progression in the remaining stages of health-seeking process during and after an individual’s contact with the health system.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/
Additional Information:	© 2014 The Authors © CC BY 3.0
Divisions:	Social Policy Lifecourse, Ageing & Population Health
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
Date Deposited:	04 Jul 2014 14:26
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2024 17:17
Projects:	ES/I903224/1, G0802442
Funders:	Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/57506

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