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Socioeconomic position and later life prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and visual impairment in Nakuru, Kenya

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

We examined the extent to which the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and later life prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and visual impairment in Nakuru, Kenya is mediated by health-related behaviour.

Methods

We used data from a community survey of 4,314 participants sampled from urban and rural areas in Nakuru, Kenya. Structural equation modelling was employed to estimate the direct and indirect—via health-related behaviour—effects of SEP on the three health outcomes.

Results

The accumulation of material resources was positively associated with hypertension and diabetes, whereas both education and material resources had a negative association with the prevalence of visual impairment. However, the observed health inequalities were not due to variation between SEP groups in health-related behaviour.

Conclusions

The pattern of associations between education, material resources and the three health outcomes varied, suggesting that in Kenya, unlike the observed pattern of inequalities in high income countries, different dimensions of SEP provide different aspects of protection as well as risk. Smoking and alcohol use did not appear to mediate the observed associations, in contrast with countries past the epidemiologic transition.

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Acknowledgments

George B. Ploubidis is supported by a Medical Research Council (MRC) Population Health Science fellowship—G0802442.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Studies, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Room 150, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK

    George B. Ploubidis & Emily Grundy

  2. International Centre for Eye Health, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Wanjiku Mathenge

  3. Department of Medical Statistics, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Bianca De Stavola

  4. Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Allen Foster

  5. Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Hannah Kuper

Authors
  1. George B. Ploubidis
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  2. Wanjiku Mathenge
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  3. Bianca De Stavola
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  4. Emily Grundy
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  5. Allen Foster
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  6. Hannah Kuper
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Correspondence to George B. Ploubidis.

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Ploubidis, G.B., Mathenge, W., De Stavola, B. et al. Socioeconomic position and later life prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and visual impairment in Nakuru, Kenya. Int J Public Health 58, 133–141 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0389-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0389-2

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