Socioeconomic Inequalities in Chronic Disease in Kharameh Cohort Study: A Population‐Based Cross‐ Sectional Study in Southern Iran

The trend of chronic diseases is increasing globally. Socioeconomic status (SES) is a major factor underlying many chronic diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the socioeconomic inequalities in distribution of chronic diseases in Iran, as a middle-income country.

This cross-sectional study was conducted using the baseline data of the Kharameh cohort study, that were collected between 2014 and 2016. The number of participants in this study was 10663 people in the age range of 35 to 70 years. Principal component analysis was used for calculating the SES of the people under study. In addition, we used concentration index and concentration curve to measure socioeconomic inequality in chronic disease.

The mean age of 10,663 participants in our study was 52.15±8.22 years and the male to female ratio was 1.26. Recurrent headache (25.8%( and hypertension (23.5%) were the most prevalent diseases. The concentration index showed that the distribution of movement disorder, recurrent headaches and gastroesophageal reflux diseases is significantly concentrated among people with low SES, and obesity among people with high SES. The results of the analysis by gender were similar to the results seen in all participants.

The findings of this study show that socioeconomic inequality is the cause of the concentration of non-communicable diseases among people with low socio-economic status. Therefore, health policy makers should pay special attention to identifying vulnerable subgroups and formulate strategic plans to reduce inequalities.