How Much Money Is Enough? Poverty and Health in Older People

We examined the relationship between absolute income, adequacy of disposable income, and self-rated health among participants aged 60 years and over.

Cross sectional study.

Community living older people in Hong Kong.

Older people aged 60 years and over in five districts in Hong Kong.

Data from a cross sectional survey of age friendly characteristics across five districts of Hong Kong carried out using stratified random sampling across a broad range of socioeconomic attributes.

Self-rated health showed a gradient for both absolute and adequacy of disposable income. The OR for the association between having just enough, or insufficient disposable income and poor health was higher: 2.0 and 3.6 respectively, and higher than that for absolute income (OR 1.8), and remained significant after adjustment for absolute income. No association between absolute income and self-rated health was observed among women. These findings suggest that adequacy of disposable income provide a stronger association with self-rated health compared with absolute income among older people aged 60 years and over, particularly for women. The absolute income corresponding to what is considered adequate disposable income lies between HK$4000-10000.

Adequacy of disposable income may be a better indicator than absolute income for older people in examining the relationship with health outcomes, particularly for older women.