A research team from Severance Hospital and Yongin Severance Hospital’s cardiology departments has found that lower income and education levels increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The study, which analyzed data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2018, focused on 47,745 economically active individuals aged between 30 and 64. The findings showed that those with lower income and educational levels consistently had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases compared to those with higher levels. This trend persisted over the 12-year study period.
Despite overall social changes like aging, urbanization, and rising obesity rates, the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases remained largely unchanged due to positive factors such as increased participation in health check-ups, improved treatment rates for hypertension and dyslipidemia, and reduced smoking rates. However, high disease prevalence was still observed among groups with lower socioeconomic status.
These findings highlight that socioeconomic inequality leads to health disparities and could serve as crucial evidence for future health policy development aimed at reducing health gaps. Professor Dong-Hoon Choi emphasized the need for policy support to reduce cardiovascular risks for vulnerable groups, while Professor Deok-Gyu Cho pointed out that low income and education affect both access to healthcare and health management awareness. Professors Ji-Woong Noh and Seong-Ah Bae, the primary authors, also stressed the importance of improving healthcare system accessibility to manage major cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia effectively.
The study has been published in the international journal ‘Journal of Global Health’ (Impact Factor 4.5).