Children's health and parental socioeconomic factors: A population-based survey in Finland

20Citations
Citations of this article
48Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Background: Socioeconomic inequalities in health are a global problem, not only among the adult population but also among children. However, studies concerning young children especially are rare. The aim of this study was to describe the health of Finnish children under 12 years of age, and the socioeconomic factors associated with health. The socioeconomic factors were parental education level, household net income, and working status. Methods. A population-based survey among Finnish children aged under 12 years (n = 6,000) was conducted in spring 2007. A questionnaire was sent to parents, and a response rate of 67% was achieved. Each child's health was explored by asking a parent to report the child's health status on a 5-point Likert scale, current symptoms from a symptoms list, and current disease(s) diagnosed by a physician. The final three outcome measures were poor health, the prevalences of psychosomatic symptoms, and long-term diseases. Data were analysed using Pearson's Chi-Square tests, and logistic regression analysis with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). P-values 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: In total, 3% of parents reported that their child's health status was poor. The prevalences of psychosomatic symptoms and long-term diseases were both 11%. The probability for poor health status was lowest among children aged 3-6 and 7-11 years, and for psychosomatic symptoms among 3-6-year-old children, whereas the odds ratios for long-term diseases was highest among children aged 7-11 years. Parental socioeconomic factors were not associated with the children's health. Conclusions: Most of the children were reported by their parent to have good health status, and approximately one tenth had experienced some psychosomatic symptoms or long-term diseases. Our study suggests that parental socioeconomic factors are not associated with the health of children aged under 12 years in Finland. © 2011 Siponen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Siponen, S. M., Ahonen, R. S., Savolainen, P. H., & Hämeen-Anttila, K. P. (2011). Children’s health and parental socioeconomic factors: A population-based survey in Finland. BMC Public Health, 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-457

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free