Uncovering gender inequalities in morbidity onset

Aïda Solé-Auró , Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Iñaki Permanyer, Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics
Jordi Guma-Lao, Centre for Demographic Studies
Sahar M A Ahmed, Centre d'Estudis Demografics

In the last decades, global health progress has been driven by impressive reductions in mortality rates which let to reach unprecedented population longevity records all over the world. Less successful, though, have been the attempts to reduce disease incidence, activity limitations and disability rates. As a result of continuing improvements in survival, delayed mortality selection has shifted the health disparities from early to later life, which translates into growing health inequalities among an older heterogeneous population. This work aims at documenting the population health registers in Catalonia by analyzing health trends for men and women to fully understand how/when the co-morbidity patterns varies/starts by sex. In this article we are using the health registers for the population in Catalonia, Spain (with a population size of 7.5 million individuals). Data comes from the Public Data Analysis for Health Research and Innovation Program” (PADRIS) and in particular we are working with a sample over 1.5 million individuals. We are following these individuals over time since the year 2005 and this offers a unique opportunity to observe the health trajectories of individuals and measure the evolution of true comorbidity patterns with unprecedented detail. Health trajectories allow the identification of gendered health patterns, confirming the gendered health-survival paradox. Our findings will be useful for scholars worldwide investigating contemporary health dynamics as well as to guide the development of public policies aimed at reducing avoidable health inequalities. It will provide a comprehensive map of the disease burden in Catalonia (Spain), identifying factors contributing to shorter life expectancy as well as life lived in good health.

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 Presented in Session 120. Flash session Gender Differences in Health, Wellbeing and Morbidity